The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC), responsible for the affairs of the Republic of China’s overseas citizens, has recently been publishing advertisements frequently on the social media platform Twitter, and now spends more than US$1,000 a month to purchase Twitter’s gold checkmark. What’s amusing is that Twitter’s gold checkmark is designated for “businesses,” not the “government organizations” specific grey checkmark, and the latter does not require payment to Twitter.
After Twitter was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk at the end of October last year (2022), it immediately changed its verification badge rules. First, its paid feature, Twitter Blue, added the ability to obtain a blue checkmark. Then, it introduced an “official” label to distinguish Twitter Blue subscribers from large organizations. Subsequently, Twitter launched a gold checkmark for “businesses” and a grey checkmark for “government organizations.” In March, Twitter announced the implementation of a gold checkmark payment mechanism in the United States and several other countries, with users required to pay $1,000 per month to maintain the gold checkmark. In April, Twitter’s gold checkmark verification mechanism became globally accessible.
At the same time, Twitter began deleting the legacy blue verified badge for non-Twitter Blue subscribers on April 20, causing confusion as many celebrities and large organizations lost their blue checkmarks due to non-payment. According to a report by The New York Times, Twitter previously stated that it would provide the gold checkmark for free to the top 500 advertisers and the top 10,000 organizations with the most followers on its platform. According to Twitter’s latest policy announced on April 21, spending at least $1,000 per month on advertising would grant users a free gold checkmark!
After the new policy was announced, the OCAC’s Twitter account, which originally had no verification badge, suddenly displayed a gold checkmark. According to Twitter’s verification badge policy, the gold checkmark is designated for “businesses,” while the OCAC should have applied for the “grey checkmark” representing the government. Other government agencies of the Republic of China, such as President Tsai Ing-wen, the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Mainland Affairs Council, all have this badge, and the verification for the “grey checkmark” is free. Only the OCAC spends at least $1,000 per month on advertising on Twitter and has obtained a gold checkmark.
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