You can now use the Eight Dollars extension to check whether a Twitter account was genuinely verified or the verification was bought.
Before Elon Musk became Twitter CEO, a verified badge or blue check was done genuinely. Now, you can pay $8 to get the blue check badge on your account. Of course, it doesn’t guarantee the account is genuine.
There is a way you can actually check if the verified badge is genuine or if it was paid for. However, checking individual accounts requires that you open each account.
How to check verification manually
To check manually, you will have to scroll down through your Twitter feed until you see an account with the blue check or verification badge.
- Click on the account to see the full profile.
- Now click on the Verification badge to see if it was genuinely verified. If the account was genuinely verified, you should see this text; “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.“
- If the account is not verified, you will see something like this; “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue.“
Due to the fact that you will have to open the accounts individually to check the verifications, a browser extension was developed to do all the heavy lifting.
How to check using Eight Dollars Extension
Thanks to a New Zealand developer you can now check the verification without actually opening the profile. It is as simple as that.
It is a simple browser extension that you can install in any browser. After installation, all you have to do is to scroll your feed and you will see all the fake verified accounts. It is as simple as that.
How to install the plugin
To install the extension, simply visit the Google chrome web store. If you are using you can also search for “Eight Dollars extension” for your browser.
If you are using chrome, click on “Add to Chrome” to add the extension to your Chrome browser. Make sure to also click on the “Add” when another prompt appears.
Make sure your settings are the same as what I have in the screenshot above.
The next thing you have to do is to start browsing through your feed. If you are browsing through the feed, all verified profiles will show “Verified“. For those who paid the $8 subscription for the Blue Check, their profile will show “Paid“.
It is as simple as that.
Conclusion
Twitter has never been the same since Elon Musk became the CEO of Twitter. There has been one change after the other.
I believe the Blue subscription was introduced with the idea of removing the impersonating account. But if take a look at things carefully, you will realize impersonation has rather become easier now than before.
The genuine Twitter verification badge could help you differentiate between fake and genuine accounts. Now, anyone can afford a verification badge. So if you do not check carefully, the fake account might also look verified and win your trust regardless.