It’s been almost a year since Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, expressed interest in buying Twitter. It was my first day at this job. My start was not so great.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked since that day if Twitter is going to shut down. I always said it would never happen. But now, due to some reasons, it cannot be said with certainty.

The new incarnation of Twitter
We’re looking at an entirely new Twitter. A blue tick on Twitter will no longer mean that an account is the real account of a particular person. All of them are paid monthly.

Although there is a practise of verifying a specific account when payments are made, high-profile individuals are often seen holding blue checks and paying bogus accounts in the names of companies.

Earlier this month, personal finance expert Martin Lewis was shocked to find that an account with a blue tick in his name was promoting cryptocurrency to thousands of followers. It goes without saying that it is not his real account.

On Twitter today, the person who pays is more visible across the site than the person chosen by the users. So we’ll see who the new Twitter accounts that come our way in the coming days actually belong to.

Is this Elon Musk’s ‘equal opportunity for all’? Before Elon Musk took over, he said the system for determining who was important on Twitter wasn’t perfect. His statement was partly correct.

Today, only a few under his direct supervision are being given free Blue Tig verification, according to reports. The founder of the intelligence site Bellingate confirmed to me that his company is also one of those verified.

Elon Musk says he has personally paid Stephen King, LeBron James, and William Shatner to criticise Twitter’s monthly subscription plan.

As far as businesses are concerned, Twitter has also said that advertising will only be allowed on verified accounts; otherwise, they will have to pay more than USD 1,000 per month.

When it comes to digital ad revenue, we find that small, consistent advertising companies have a greater aggregate share than large corporations.

The above calls into question whether Twitter, led by Elon Musk, who claims to be the guardian of free speech, is giving everyone an equal opportunity to ensure it.

Ronaldo and Beyoncé’s ‘blue tick was removed.

People generally don’t want to be left out of society. Twitter is seen as a small, chaotic, yet influential community. It is very poorly handled. Like other platforms, its finances were in dire straits. It struggled to curb abuse and misinformation.

Elon Musk is a brilliant entrepreneur who is rich and has a huge following. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and NPR were among the news organisations that stopped tweeting as a result of his changes to Twitter. Celebrities like singer Elton John, comedian Stephen Fry, and model Gigi Hadid left Twitter after Musk took over.

As previously announced, Twitter on Thursday began removing the blue tick verification mark from the accounts of celebrities who do not pay monthly subscriptions.

Accordingly, the blue tick on thousands of accounts has been removed. Among them are football star Cristiano Ronaldo and Beyoncé.

BBC refusal to pay for verification
The BBC, which says it does not pay for account verification on Twitter, has already lost its “gold” tick for verification as a news agency. The BBC News Twitter account started following individual journalists like me, which is the antithesis of credibility.

A lot of people are happy to lose Blue Tick. “Happy everyone celebrating the loss of Blue Tick,” a friend of mine posted in one of the groups on Thursday. Others joked “ticked off”.

Like many, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the new direction Twitter is taking as a work and social platform.

Twitter Founder’s New Site, ‘BlueSky’
Twitter creator Jack Dorsey is launching a new platform called BlueSky. Its design is almost identical to Twitter’s.

It is very small and can only be connected by invitation. But it creates great excitement. Because it promises to be operable in the future. That means it is compatible with other platforms. I’m in it too. It feels like we’re all at a party right now, enjoying the decor.

But there may be a doorway to a new, small, but influential space. It is also likely to be blue. Let’s hope Dorsey has learned a thing or two about running a business since selling Twitter.