The famous Twitter blue ticks, which were formerly used to confirm the legitimacy of specific profiles, are now causing problems. The loss of the blue ticks from thousands of verified accounts has caused turmoil and uncertainty on Twitter.
According to The BBC, Twitter gave a fake Disney account verification status at the weekend. The account, called @DisneyJuniorUK, was tweeting vile content but managed to be verified with a gold tick before being suspended. The owner alerted his followers by saying, "This isn't actually real, right. Someone pinch me or something-and the tweet has since gone viral."
A gold badge has also been issued to the "real" Disney Junior account in between.
The gold tick on Twitter is reserved for organisations that pay $1,000 a month.
Meanwhile, Twitter's blue ticks were reinstated on some media, celebrity, and other high-profile accounts on Saturday, a move protested by many of the recipients.
Once a free sign of authenticity and fame, blue ticks must now be bought by subscribers for $8 a month, Twitter says.
Non-paying accounts that had a blue tick lost it on Thursday, as owner Elon Musk implemented a strategy, dubbed "Twitter Blue", to generate new revenue, as announced last year.
Only a tiny fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed-less than 5 percent of the 407,000 profiles affected, according to Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social-media platforms.
But on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities regained their blue ticks, seemingly without action on their part, including author Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James, and former US president Donald Trump.
Musk tweeted Friday that he was "paying for a few (subscriptions) personally."
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