Getting a fancy vehicle registration number in the past hinged on influence. The demand for what was seen as ‘VIP number plates’ had shot up so much that governments decided to cash in by selling these catchy numbers at a premium. Come to think of it, that was just an ego trip and only made it easier for a traffic cop to jot it down in case of a violation! Or just may be, they would think twice, as the owner had presumably both affluence and influence.
In a similar vein, social media site twitter’s recent decision to strip scores of ‘public figures’ off their verified blue tick marks and offer them for nine hundred rupees a month in India has triggered a debate over how Elon makes money with elan!
When I woke up to my disappeared blue tick on my twitter handle, my first thought was ‘what the hell?’. As I mulled over the move, a range of questions raced through my mind. Can credibility be bought? Isn’t it earned? A tweet elicited a pertinent response from a former journalist colleague Jude who was quick to point out that the verified sign was hardly an endorsement of credibility as the most vicious trolls flaunted them with impunity.
Back to my questions. Is this the same as creating a virus to sell vaccines? Allow parody and fake accounts of professionals to surface and force the real personalities to cough up a revenue stream to protect their identity? One of the conditions for its earlier retention was that verified users were not to protect their tweets. It meant coming under fire and not being able to wear a bullet proof vest, just to flash a holster?
Is that tick mark a status symbol? For blue eyed users? Does it indicate intellectual prowess? Creativity? Lateral thinking? Championing causes? Popularity? Accomplishments? Power? Or just a sort of pricey cigar for chain smokers who are already addicted to tobacco? Self aggrandisement? These are my questions. And I’m not being judgmental.
There was a perception that a whole lot of undeserving folks were granted this blue tick and basked in the euphoria of some sort of validation as they spewed venom and trolled those with contrarian views. A simple dip stick survey of blue tick accounts that had to be deactivated by twitter itself will bear testimony to its porous manner of awarding them during the previous regime.
Some unsolicited but well-meaning suggestions for the microblogging site’s feature. Don’t sell but award verified signs – of whatever colour, to content providers who are respectful, regular, fair, ethical, helpful, empathetic and proactive. Incentivising good behaviour on a public platform may act as a bulwark against fake news, abuse, spamming, plagiarism and hate speech. Let users who actually spend time on this site be recognised, as opposed to different categories that use bots and ghost writers to interact with the populace. I do hope the twitter boss takes my views in the right spirit. For all its flaws, I respect this medium for its potential to be a Change Agent.
I do concede that in a laissez-faire world, twitter has a right to offer a ‘take it or leave it’ feature. And to monetise its offering. Will I pay to get back my blue tick? No, thanks. I’d rather donate that money to a good cause – like sponsoring a cold drink for the gas and food delivery agent or postal staff or security guard in my building in this sweltering summer.
Meanwhile, a tick off line saves nine… hundred. That ‘musk’ sink in!
(Sanjay Pinto is an Advocate practising at the Madras High Court, a Columnist, Author of 4 Books & Former Resident Editor of NDTV 24×7)
