Twitter removes Biden, Buhari, Tinubu, Ronaldo, others’ verification tags

Twitter has removed the verification badges of United States President, Joe Biden, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and other prominent Nigerians.

Others who have since had their verification badges removed on Twitter were the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP); and famous singers, Burna Boy, Davido, and Wizkid.

Others affected were football star, Cristiano Ronaldo; former United States President, Barack Obama, whose account is the second most-followed on Twitter; and celebrities, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Rihanna, among others.

It was learned on Thursday, April 20, that the verification badges on their account had been removed.

This followed the non-payment of their verification subscription fee announced by Twitter Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Elon Musk.

Twitter, on Wednesday, also noted that the legacy verified checkmarks would be removed from the platform on April 20, 2023.

It equally urged users who desire to remain verified to sign up for Twitter Blue via a provided link.

“Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks. To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here,” the microblogging platform tweeted.

The Star