Did you just change your X/Twitter DP and lost the blue tick? Here is why verified status vanished

X, formerly known as Twitter, has been in the news frequently for all the wrong reasons. It is back under the spotlight again and this time for removing the verified blue, or golden, tick mark because of certain changes made by users. The most high-profile people affected by this have been BJP members including national spokesperson Sambit Patra, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and others.

Users on the microblogging platform are losing their verified status blue tick due to a very simple reason - they changed their profile picture.

Case of the missing verified blue ticks

In anticipation of the upcoming 77th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged citizens to show their support for their nation by changing the display pictures of their social media handles to the tri-color flag (Tiranga). This move is part of PM’s ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign. In his latest X post, the PM wrote, “In the spirit of the #HarGharTiranga movement, let us change the DP of our social media accounts and extend support to this unique effort which will deepen the bond between our beloved country and us.”

While this move was meant to show the citizens’ appreciation towards their country, it has led to one very unfortunate outcome. Users on X who were subscribed to X Premium have lost their blue ticks. At present, X has 3 tiers of ticks. Blue ticks are meant for X Premium subscribers, while Gold ticks represent an official organization. On the other hand, Grey ticks represent government officials/agencies.

Even government-affiliated officials such as BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami have lost their verification badges.

Interestingly, despite recently changing the profile picture to Tiranga, the Prime Minister’s account did not lose its verified status.

Why did this occur?

The disappearance of the verification tick isn’t part of any crackdown by the Musk-owned platform, but part of its X Premium verification guidelines. According to the X blog, users must have their authentic names and profile pictures to be verified on the microblogging platform. If there is any change in any of them, the badge will be lost temporarily and the X team will carry out a complete review of the profile.

Users need not really worry as the verification tick will appear once again if the account meets all the requirements.