Piers Morgan loses Twitter verification as Susanna Reid pays to keep hers

20 April 2023 , 21:29

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Holly Willoughby has kept her Twitter blue tick while Piers Morgan is now without (Image: Twitter)

Piers Morgan has lost his Twitter blue tick, as Elon Musk's social media site culls 'legacy' blue ticks, which verify stars' identities.

The outspoken TV presenter and columnist, 58, who has more than 8m followers on Twitter, is among the high-profile users who have lost their blue ticks, including Price William and Princess Kate as well as Kim Kardashian.

However, some stars, such as This Morning's Holly Willoughby and Piers' former Good Morning Britain co-host, Susanna Reid, have blue ticks next to their name.

Surprisingly Piers is yet to comment on the removal of the coveted blue tick on his profile.

Piers Morgan no longer has a blue tick on his Twitter account (Twitter)

The Twitter Verified account tweeted that legacy verified marks would be removed from the site on April 20, with the main way of getting a blue tick now being to sign up for Twitter Blue, with an £8 monthly fee for those based in the UK.

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Not all those who have kept their verification marks have paid for Blue, however, as some legacy accounts seemed to retain their ticks if linked to a verified organisation, including Barack Obama's personal page.

Holly Willoughby has paid for a Twitter blue tick (Twitter)

The Verified Organisations feature enables bodies of "all types", including businesses, non-profit groups and government institutions, to sign up and manage their verification and to affiliate and verify any related account.

Both Holly and Susanna's Twitter accounts say they are verified because "they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number."

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One of the most famous profiles with a blue tick because it is "subscribed to Twitter Blue' is Taylor Swift's, which has 92.5 million followers.

Elon Musk's Twitter has purged many blue ticks (AFP via Getty Images)

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has also subscribed to the service and has admitted in the past that he pays because of its edit function.

Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system, with many of these being journalists, athletes and public figures.

Now, Some large organisations such as the Labour Party and the official Conservative Party Twitter page now appear without any kind of symbol.

Famous users with large followings such as Beyonce, JK Rowling, Lady Gaga and Jay-Z have also lost their blue ticks.

The move appears to have hit Tinsletown, as Ryan Gosling, Will Smith, and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson are among those now officially unverified.

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Susanna Reid has also paid for the Twitter Blue service (Twitter)

Stars of the footballing world have not been spared either, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish missing a blue tick.

Elon Musk, Twitter's new owner, has previously defended the change to the system, saying it's a way of “treating everyone equally.”

“There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities,” the Tesla mogul said in a tweet.

The entrepreneur also thinks a paid system could help remove spam accounts, in his effort to cull bots on the platform, but this has been disputed by experts, arguing those wishing to spread disinformation could be willing to pay for an account.

Katherine Heslop