If you’ve been on Twitter over the last week, you probably noticed that all those blue verification check marks are gone. That’s because Twitter CEO and totally smart business man who didn’t benefit from his father’s South Africa apartheid-era emerald mine Elon Musk killed that feature on the memeworthy day of 4/20. You know, because he’s totally edgy and funny.
Well, that decision alone has caused numerous celebrities and public figures to say “fuck this” and leave the platform all together, since no more verification means people can easily create impostor accounts since it now only costs $8 a month to do that. And while a lot of it is from actors and other celebrities, ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy said he’s done for good since he’s not going to subscribe to Twitter Blue just for a check mark.
“With Twitter now stripping everybody of them and enabling anybody to simply buy one and pretend to be anybody with no verification, I think it’s time to bounce from here to avoid any possible confusion or mistaken identity. I will still be using my Instagram and Facebook with daily posts and content so please follow me over there where you can be certain it is actually me posting.”
Naturally, this resulted in people coming out of the woodwork to defend boy genius Musk or cry about some political attack that Portnoy was leveling (even though he wasn’t). As the vitriol came pouring in, Portnoy pointed to those comments as another reason why he was leaving the platform.
“Wow… some of these comments (even attacks) are pretty incredible!! Almost comical. I assumed it was obvious I could care less about paying $8 (or however much) for a Blue Check… it’s not even about me having one or not… it’s more about the fact that any 13 yr [old] kid with 18 followers can simply buy one!! It defeats the entire purpose of what verified accounts once meant.
“And honestly, reading some of these tweets is another reason I’m just not that into this place anymore. I’m not making any sort of political statement… it’s just personal taste. Just too toxic for me.
“I figured I at least owed my followers a heads up that I was bailing from here but will still be on FB & IG rather than just ghosting everyone! Anyways, if the policies here ever change a bit who knows, maybe I’ll come back someday. Just letting you know I won’t be posting any updates here for now.”
Support of Twitter Blue has been lackluster to say the least. Not only has Musk been offering money of the celebrity icons, even though they may not want them at all, but it’s also rumored that they’ve sold maybe a few dozen subscriptions since its launch, which is abysmal for a massive multinational corporation.