DP Rigathi Gachagua loses Twitter verification blue tick

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, has lost his Twitter verification mark.

The second in command lost his blue tick used to identify verified accounts of notably public figure, government officials or verified as an authentic corporate account across various sectors on Sunday, April 09.

Gachagua’s account had over 550,000 followers on Twitter by the time he lost the blue tick.

The development comes at a time when social media giant is phasing out its legacy blue badges, a process that commenced on April 1, 2023.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua who has more than 550,000 followers on Twitter lost his blue tick on Sunday, April 09. Pulse Live Kenya

In November 2022, Twitter's CEO, Elon Musk, announced a plan to remove blue checkmarks from previously verified accounts and instead give them to paid subscribers of Twitter Blue, a subscription service that costs $8 per month for additional Twitter features.

READ: Larry Madowo & CNN reject charges for Twitter verification

Musk stated last month that legacy verified accounts would have their badges removed by April 1, if they did not subscribe to Twitter Blue.

Twitter’s new subscription was met with resistance from notable personalities and corporates who declined to pay the subscription fee for Twitter blue.

Among them is accomplished journalist Larry Madowo who decided to follow in the footsteps of other celebrities and decline to pay Twitter the fee of Sh1,060 for the verification badge.

"I have no plans to pay for Twitter Blue at this time and neither does CNN. Twitter says my blue checkmark will soon disappear - after 12 years of being verified. Anyone will be able to create an account in my name and get it verified for $8 (Sh1,060). What could possibly go wrong?

"Even if I pay $8 to remain verified, anybody else can also add my name to their account and pay Twitter to verify it. So this doesn’t solve the problem of impersonation, it makes it worse. If this loophole is exploited by malicious people, it could have dangerous consequences," Madowo explained.

International Media giant, CNN also declined to pay the subscription fee as did NBA superstar, LeBron James.