'Massive W!' - Sergio Ramos publicly calls out Elon Musk after Twitter purged legacy blue checkmarks

Paris Saint-Germain defender Sergio Ramos has taken aim at Tesla CEO Elon Musk after Twitter purged the social media platform of ‘legacy’ verified blue ticks.

Twitter on Wednesday confirmed that users who had legacy verified checkmarks would have them stripped from their accounts on Friday.

Twitter users can still obtain blue ticks for their profiles by signing up for the divisive Twitter Blue membership, which was introduced by Musk after his takeover.

Twitter Blue membership is charged at $8 per month via signing up from the web or an $11 charge from Apple-owned devices.

Twitter’s subscription service, which can also be purchased for a whole year for an $84 fee, offers features including an edit function and a blue tick for profiles.

Musk, who purchased Twitter for an eye-watering £38.1bn last October, revealed that he would be ‘personally paying’ for Twitter Blue for only three people.

A number of high-profile superstars were left without blue ticks on their Twitter accounts after legacy verification was removed on Friday.

Ramos on Friday took to social media and called out Twitter CEO Musk for “forcing payments” in order for a Twitter user to secure a verified checkmark.

🤔 @elonmusk, eliminating blue badges, forcing payments and making money is one strategy. Eliminating hatred, promoting respect and making @twitter a better place could be another one. Just saying… pic.twitter.com/0l7cWsPi9t

— Sergio Ramos (@SergioRamos) April 21, 2023

“[Elon Musk], eliminating blue badges, forcing payments and making money is one strategy,” he tweeted.

“Eliminating hatred, promoting respect and making [Twitter] a better place could be another one. Just saying…”

Ramos tagged Musk in the aforementioned tweet, but the 51-year-old billionaire has not responded at the time of writing.

The 37-year-old Spanish centre-back was praised on social media for his message to Musk, who has divided Twitter users over his handling of the platform.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine Ramos cooking Elon Musk on Twitter,” one fan said.

Someone else tweeted: “Thanks, Ramos. Gosh that feels weird to say...”

Another Twitter user simply wrote: “Massive W.”

“Shall we put this on a billboard? Spot on,” a fourth added.

While a fifth posted: “Legend shares thought on blue badges.”

And a sixth commented: “[Elon Musk] this is not the way to build a better network, many of us have already indicated it.”