Ronaldo, Twitter's most followed athlete, LOSES blue tick as new rules enforced

Cristiano Ronaldo has lost his blue tick on Twitter following changes to the platform's verification rules - despite being its most followed athlete.

The Portuguese superstar has 108.3 million followers on Elon Musk's social media site, but no longer has the 'legacy verified checkmark' which was previously used to confirm the validity of official accounts.

This week Twitter enforced new rules which saw thousands of accounts lose their blue ticks, regardless of how famous they are, and Ronaldo was one of those despite being the most followed sportsperson on the platform.

Users can now pay a monthly subscription of $8 (£6.46) to sign up to Twitter Blue, which comes with the blue tick along with access to other features such as longer video uploads and an edit button.

But many have taken umbrage with Musk's money-making tactics, and have chosen not to contribute to the billionaire's coffers following his $44billion (£38.1 billion) takeover of Twitter in October 2022.

Musk stated that he is paying $8-a-month out of his own pocket to keep the verified blue tick on basketball superstar LeBron James, as well as author Stephen King and actor William Shatner.

James previously stated that he had no intention of paying the subscription to keep his blue tick, leaving Musk to explain the situation to confused users.

But it appears that the 51-year-old's generosity did not apply to the most followed sportsperson on his platform, footballing icon Ronaldo.

Ronaldo's popularity has remained high after spells with top clubs Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.

The 38-year-old currently plays his club football in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, where he earns £173m a year, so the cost of the monthly subscription is not an issue.

Verified ticks have been used on Twitter since 2009, after St. Louis Cardinals manager Anthony La Russa sued the site over an imposter account, and were previously issued to accounts of public interest - later known as 'legacy checkmarks' under Musk's ownership.

The removal of blue tick marks has led to concerns that impersonation attempts will increase, and it will also spur on an increased wave of misinformation.

BBC football host Gary Lineker has retained his blue tick because he has 'been paying it for a while', stating in April that he was only paying the monthly subscription to maintain access to Twitter's elusive edit button.

Manchester City duo Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez tweeted on Thursday that they had no plans to pay the charge - and their ticks are now absent.

US Olympian Lolo Jones said that while she is no longer verified on Twitter, she still is on her dating profile.