Look: New tool reveals ‘actually verified’ Twitter users in UAE — and others who paid for blue tick

Elon Musk announced the launch of 'Twitter Blue' on November 1, sending Twitterati in a frenzy

Meher Dhanjal

Published: Fri 11 Nov 2022, 11:43 AM

Last updated: Fri 11 Nov 2022, 1:27 PM

Chrome users can now download a new extension to see which Twitter users have paid for verification and which are 'actually verified'.

The 'blue tick' on Twitter, which signifies that the account is verified, has recently become a paid service, going for $8 a month.

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Twitter's new CEO, Elon Musk, announced the change on November 1, 2022, sending Twitterati into a frenzy — especially since there is visually no difference between a check-mark that has been bought and one that was awarded.

The new extension, named 'Eight Dollars' can help users identify the difference by showing them Twitter users that were verified before the new scheme rolled out. A badge appears next to the name of the account saying 'actually verified'.

Several UAE influencers and public figures fall under this category.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, with over 4.7 million followers had received the blue check earlier, and has not subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Aside from that, popular beauty influencer Huda Kattan, and famous radio jockey, Kris Fade, were also verified beforehand.

Those who were not verified earlier, will have a badge displayed as shown below.

This popular gaming streamer and content creator has subscribed to Twitter Blue and pays $8 a month to avail this feature.

Helpful feature

Another feature of this extension is that a Twitter user will be able to distinguish between both kinds of accounts without having to visit the profile.

In the below image, the badge establishing that Sheikh Hamdan is actually verified on Twitter is showing up in the tweet itself.

Without the extension

In case one wants to differentiate between a genuinely verified and a paid for verification account without installing the extension, a Twitter user can simply check the profile of the account.

By clicking on the blue tick on any account it will show one of two pop-ups:

The first would say, "This account is verified because it’s notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category."

On the other hand, a paid for verification account would display a pop-up with the text, "This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue."

The only drawback is that this is only available on a user profile, and not across the micro-blogging platform.

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