‘I want a verified account’: Susanna Reid defends paying for Twitter Blue subscription

‘GMB’ host explained why she kept her blue tick on Twitter

Susanna Reid has defended her decision to pay for a blue tick on Twitter.

Last week, CEO Elon Musk made good of his promise to strip “legacy” verification status from every user who had not paid for a Twitter Blue subscription.

In their first tweets without a blue tick, many celebrities said they were happy to be free of it as they believe it would be “embarrassing” to pay $8 (£6.44) a month for it.

It was reported that a mere 28 “legacy” verified users signed up for Twitter Blue hours after Elon Musk took away their verified status.

One celebrity who decided to subscribe in order to retain their blue tick was Good Morning Britain presenter Reid, who defended her decision in response to a news story shared online.

Re-sharing a story headlined “Piers Morgan LOSES Twitter tick as Susanna Reid and Holly Willoughby pay to keep theirs”, the GMB host wrote: “It’s a site I use daily. I want a verified account. It’s a subscription.”

She shared a green tick emoji alongside each statement.

Meanwhile, Unforgotten creator Chris Lang revealed that he signed up for Twitter Blue three months ago in order to promote the latest series of the ITV drama.

“My tweet announcing the air date then got 1.2m views,” he wrote, adding: “The show then got 8.4m viewers per ep & series 6 was thus commissioned which will employ 100s of people. Twitter Blue has cost me £16.74 so far.”

Susanna Reid defends paying for Twitter Blue subscription (Twitter)

Shortly after the ticks were removed, it was revealed that Musk had personally paid for three celebrities who had been vocal in their criticism of his policy: Stephen King, LeBron James and William Shatner.

King alerted his followers to the fact that he was still verfied despite not signing up to Twitter Blue. In response, Musk, in an apparent attempt to “troll” his critic, wrote: “You’re welcome namaste.”

However, days later, celebrities with more than a million followers noticed that their blue tick had returned. Many, including Sir Ian McKellen and Neil Gaiman, rushed to clarify that they had not paid for it.