#RatVerified: Twitter users battle Elon Musk's blue check plan with a rat race takeover

San Francisco, California - As Twitter begins changing its rules on verifying accounts, one user is organizing against it using ... a rat?

Twitter and Elon Musk are revamping the way the platform verifies accounts, and one user is fighting back with an alternative that has gone viral.
Twitter and Elon Musk are revamping the way the platform verifies accounts, and one user is fighting back with an alternative that has gone viral.  © Collage: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP & JON LEVY/AFP

Since officially acquiring Twitter last week for $44 billion, Elon Musk has been rolling out his plans to revamp the platform, including a new subscription service that will force users to pay $8 monthly to keep their blue checkmark verification.

But a Twitter user named Alex posed an alternative that has taken the platform by storm.

"Why would I pay $8 to get a blue check if I could put a rat next to my name for free???" the PhD student tweeted.

"I'm calling on everyone to join me in becoming #RatVerified."

The hashtag was trending all day on Wednesday, with other users adding a rat emoji to their names, and many sharing photos of their own real-life rodent friends.

One user described Musk's new system as "just another hierarchy system based on capital," and hilariously added, "We may be hated in the eyes of the giant, but we're all verified in the eyes of the rats."

While looking back on the revolution he started, Alex jokingly shared it was "stupid," but implored others to still "become #RatVerified and ignore whatever stupidity Elon throws your way."

Perhaps Twitter's retaliatory rat takeover will soon have Musk himself saying, "Rats!"

Cover photo: Collage: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP & JON LEVY/AFP

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