The owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, confirmed the removal of the “Free Blue Tick” facility

According to the owner and CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, the “free blue tick” given to the accounts of officials and celebrities on the social media platform will be abolished by next week. Elon Musk took over Twitter for $44 billion, and before that, the Blue Tick facility was available for free.

Mr. Musk discussed his acquisition of Twitter in an interview with “BBC News” on Wednesday and refuted the rise in hate speech on the site.

Before changing the blue tick description to hide which users were “Twitter Blue subscribers” and which users had been verified for free, Mr. Musk had earlier stated that legacy blue ticks would be removed as of April 1.

The CEO of Twitter also acknowledged that the company now employs 1,500 workers, down from 8,000 or so when he took over the business. He acknowledged that he was unable to personally fire many employees and that he was compelled to purchase the business. According to him, the platform only had around four months to live when he purchased it and had a $3 billion negative cash flow.

Regarding news outlets, Mr. Musk stated “his admiration for the BBC and promised to update the tag to indicate that the BBC was a publicly supported organisation.” He also responded to publications like “The New York Times” that claimed they would not pay for verification marks.

“Further debunking claims that hate speech has been spreading on Twitter since Mr. Musk took over,” he said,

Additionally, Mr. Musk asserted that Twitter usage had increased and was on the rise. He said that sponsors were returning to the website, but he did not mention any particular businesses.