The early hours of April 21, 2023, saw almost all the verified ticks from recognized teams and officials all over the world, including F1 get, vanish. As Twitter removed the verifications to abide by the regulations set by Elon Musk, all hell seems to have broken loose.
As F1 teams and athletes also lost the check mark, F1 Twitter took subtle digs at them. Known for their wit, F1 Twitter has come up once again to showcase why they are brilliant when it comes to being cheeky.
Still the real Mercedes-AMG F1 account. ✅😉
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 21, 2023
After the teams lost their tick mark, they were quite late in retrieving it back. When writing this article, teams like Red Bull and McLaren have already got their account reverified. But the other teams are still to get the verified ticks.
As there was a significant delay, the fans on Twitter immediately began to ask if the teams were delaying because they were worried about the budget cap regulations. Since the new verification mode would cost a little, it was enough for the F1 world to go at the teams amid a tight budget.
What did the fans say about this?
As soon as the blue ticks got removed from the F1 teams, the fans on Twitter waited anxiously to see what would happen next. When they noticed teams were slow with retrieving the legendary checkmark, they began to ask questions.
The F1 world on Twitter asked the teams if they were worried about spending extra for this. Given that the teams are already worried about their budget, fans joked if the $8 would be too hefty to afford.
By getting the check mark back, the fans pulled banters and asked if the teams will be facing something like Red Bull last year [Red Bull crossed the 2021 budget cap. As a reason, they cited the extra costs from catering.]
Given below are some of the reactions taken from Twitter:
Afraid of going over cost cap with verification subscription?
— MIANO (@MianoDennis) April 21, 2023
This damn budget cap
— Sir Lewis Hamilton Updates (@SirLewisUpdates) April 21, 2023
If they could break the budget cap, so should we. Tell em to get you that verification
— Who Even Cares? (@_Nobody_does) April 21, 2023
They don’t have to worry about the cost cap
— Football Reporting (@FootballReportg) April 21, 2023
Damn. Really struggling with the budget cap already that we’re cutting down costs like this
— MouldyMosquito (@4am27551846) April 21, 2023
Why did Twitter remove the blue tick?
The American micro-blogging site removed the blue ticks from verified accounts to comply with Musk’s policy. On April 12, the site’s CEO warned that people who are still paying up for the subscription would lose the legendary check mark, except some.
After taking over Twitter with a $44 billion move, the American billionaire rolled down a scheme named Twitter Blue. In the scheme, anyone with an $8 a month or $84 a year payment can use the new checkmark.
As for the renowned organizations, personalities, or teams, they will have a different checkmark apart from the blue. The gold checkmark will show that the account is an official business account, whereas the grey checkmark will show government or multilateral organizations.
