Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua Loses Twitter Verification Badge

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has lost his Twitter verification badge as the social media platform starts implementing a pay-for-play system that would give the badge to anyone who pays for it.

Under the new verification system introduced by Twitter owner Elon Musk last year, Twitter will offer gold checks for companies, gray checks for government entities and other organizations, and blue checks for individuals.

The new Twitter Blue subscription service will cost $8 per month for Android users and $11 per month for those who subscribe on the iOS app.

Twitter Blue comprises premium features such as the blue verification check mark, the ability to upload videos of up to 10 minutes, and an Edit Tweet option, among others.

Government-affiliated agencies and commercial accounts will pay a subscription fee of $1,000 a month while CEOs, officials, and subsidiaries of such organizations will be charged $50 per month with one month of free affiliations.

Twitter had said that it would begin winding down its traditional verification program starting April 1st but Musk last week said the company would give verified accounts “a few weeks grace unless they tell they won’t pay now, in which we will remove it.”

On Sunday, Kenyans online noticed that Gachagua, who was yet to receive the grey badge like President Ruto, had lost his blue badge on his account, which has 550,000 followers.

State House Twitter account has a grey verification badge while other government officials including First Lady Rachel Ruto, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, and State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed still have their blue badges.

It is not clear whether these officials have opted into Twitter Blue or the platform has not revoked their badges.