#RatVerified trends on Twitter as users slam paid verification proposal Unsplash: Joshua HoehneEveryone on Twitter is getting #RatVerified, the hashtag trending on the social media platform as users revolt against the paid verification proposal by new owner Elon Musk. Thousands are putting rat emojis in their name as they ratify their profiles. Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter has already gotten off to an explosive start. The tech billionaire is trying to revolutionize the social media platform, already laying off former executives and promising a suite of changes. One such change is moving the platform\u2019s verification checkmark, the colloquially named tick, behind a paywall. It would be wrapped into Twitter Blue, the social media site\u2019s subscription service, for $8 a month. However the change has divided users on the platform, and now some are protesting the move. Instead of checkmarks to prove authenticity, they are using rat emojis. The trend was started by popular comic creator Alex Cohen, the brains behind Tiny Snek Comics. Cohen called on his fans to become \u201c#RatVerified\u201d after news of Elon Musk\u2019s proposal to put verification behind the Twitter Blue paywall for $8 a month. \u201cWhy would I pay $8 to get a blue check if I could put a rat next to my name for free,\u201d he asked. He even put up a Twitter poll joking about Musk\u2019s $44 billion purchase of the platform, asking who would win between that level of funding or a silly rat in a name. Cohen\u2019s antics to turn Twitter\u2019s blue checkmark into a rat emoji has gained plenty of traction though. Thousands upon thousands of users are bookending their display names with the rat emoji, and #RatVerified is the number one trending term on the site as of publishing. Not only are people using it as a sort of protest against the verification changes, they are also using the hashtag to share cute photos of rats and mice everywhere. Cohen has realized the absurdity of it all, but is leaning into it: \u201cThis is perhaps my stupidest contribution to Twitter but regardless everyone should become #RatVerified and ignore whatever stupidity Elon throws your way. Do not pay for this website!\u201d He also told Newsweek \u201cthe current verification system does have a lot of issues, but when it works it helps users spot fake accounts and identify trusted sources of information.\u201d \u201cElon Musk\u2019s proposal to charge for verification, and to give those verified users greater visibility, solves none of the current system\u2019s problems and will only make Twitter harder to navigate. I\u2019d rather stick a rat next to my name than support pay-to-play tweeting, and clearly others feel the same way!\u201d The paid verification is not the only change Musk has proposed for Twitter, with \u201cpaid DMs\u201d and removing inactive accounts and handles also on the billionaire\u2019s agenda. Whether they all come to fruition remains to be seen though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
#RatVerified trends on Twitter as users slam paid verification proposal Unsplash: Joshua HoehneEveryone on Twitter is getting #RatVerified, the hashtag trending on the social media platform as users revolt against the paid verification proposal by new owner Elon Musk. Thousands are putting rat emojis in their name as they ratify their profiles. Elon Musk\u2019s purchase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}