Notable Canadians on Twitter lose 'verified' checkmarks: 'Impersonation rampant'

Many on Twitter are voicing concern over impersonation efforts following the latest update of Twitter Blue, which has left many Canadian politicians and celebrities check-less, including NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Justin Bieber and Drake.

On April 20, Twitter owner Elon Musk decided to remove "legacy" verified status — a free feature that was used to legitimize credible news sources, politicians, celebrities and more, through a blue checkmark next to one's title. Now, anyone can sign up for Twitter Blue by paying $8 a month and verifying their phone number, to receive a blue check.

After about 24 hours, Travis Brown, a Berlin-based developer of software for tracking social media, has pointed out how the updated paid model has made little impact, except for stripping many of their blue checkmark status.

With barely anyone having a blue checkmark, many are concerned that it makes it open season for impersonators. It allows them to trick the public with fake accounts, putting the extra responsibility on the reader to distinguish if what they're reading is in fact from a legitimate source.

Canadian political leaders lose blue checkmark

Canadians are taking note of who has and hasn't opted to pay $8 to maintain their "blue checkmark" status on the social media site.

Of Canada's main four party leaders, it's Pierre Poilievre who sticks out.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau currently has a grey checkmark, a free feature that indicates that the account "represents a government/multilateral organization or a government/multilateral official." It's unclear why Poilievre doesn't have a grey checkmark himself, since the feature is also given to those who are part of "parliamentary or equivalent institutional and committee accounts," according to Twitter's guidelines.

A gold checkmark has been made for an "official business account through Twitter Verified Organizations."

As of Friday afternoon, many notable Canadian politicians, celebrities and media organizations have been made check-less, such as Toronto-based news station CP24 and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who according to CTV News, will "not be paying for Twitter Blue verification services."

What is Twitter Blue?

Twitter Blue is the social media site's "premium subscription service," as Musk looks to revamp its "corrupt" predecessor. It provides users with access to features like editing tweets, NFT profile pictures and publishing longer text and video posts.

Those who have Twitter Blue receive a blue checkmark beside their name. Previously, that was a feature that was made available to users who went through Twitter's free verification process, which had the goal of legitimizing an account by verifying that the person reflected as the holder of the account is in fact the one leading it.

To obtain Twitter Blue for a personal account, users must pay $8 and verify their phone number. On Twitter's website, at the time of publication, there are no mentions of further steps to verify one's identity, however it's stated that "changes to your profile photo, display name, or username (@handle) will result in the loss of the blue checkmark until the account is validated as continuing to meet our requirements."

Since the unveiling of the new model, Musk has confirmed that he is footing the bill for some celebrities' Twitter Blue status, like those of LeBron James, William Shatner and Stephen King, who all had previously mentioned that they were not going to pay for the feature.

Other celebrities have taken to Twitter to note that they've lost their checkmarks, like Halle Berry and Ben Stiller.

However, many are also voicing their concern over impersonation efforts, like what was recently seen in Chicago, where fake accounts tricked many into believing that a major thoroughfare was closing to private traffic next month — tweets that were viewed by over 100,000 users.

Others are worried similar scenarios could take place during moments of crisis, like during extreme weather warnings, where the public relies on Twitter accounts for urgent info.

Many are skeptical that this era of Twitter will last, as they foresee class action lawsuits as a result of impersonators.

Others are also calling for a different system, where free verification is not lumped into the same model at Twitter Blue, which provides additional features on the social media site.