Nairobi — Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has lost Twitter's blue badge, days after the Elon Musk-owned social media organization started stripping off the coveted tag following its transformation into a subscription-based badge.

Gachagua who is yet to be assigned the government-affiliated gray checkmark lost the blue badge on Sunday, a week after Twitter started recalling the badges.

Twitter had on March 24 announced the intended withdrawal of the blue badges, in a bid to end what Musk termed a "lords and peasants system", would commence on April 1.

"On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified check marks," the firm announced.

On April 3rd, Twitter announced that, as part of its new verification procedure, government-affiliated agencies and commercial accounts will now have to pay a monthly cost of $1,000 (Sh132,520) while its CEOs, officials and subsidiaries would pay $50 (Sh6,626).

"A Twitter verified organizations subscription is $1,000/month (plus any applicable tax) and $50/month (plus any applicable tax) for each additional affiliate in the US. Prices may vary by region and are subject to change," Twitter stated.

Other users would pay $8 (Sh1,048) for the standard blue badge in changes Musk outlined on November 25, 2022, which saw the rollout of unique colored badges.

Twitter clustered the badges in three broad categories: gold for companies, grey for government and blue for individuals including celebrities.

Under Twitter Blue, subscribers will enjoy priorities in replies, mentions and searches, which Musk said was essential to defeating spam and scams.

They will also be able to post long videos and audio and get half as many adverts.

Twitter users who lose the verification marks will have to reapply under Twitter Blue.