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'I'm an elite now': Kyle Rittenhouse thanks Elon Musk after getting blue tick verification on Twitter for $8

'Thank you @elonmusk!' Kyle Rittenhouse tweeted, adding in a second tweet, 'The comments from BIG MAD haters are pure gold'

BRENHAM, TEXAS, USA: Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was overjoyed after receiving a blue tick verification symbol on Twitter after registering for Elon Musk's new $8 ‘Twiter Blue’ service. The 19-year-old announced the news with a screenshot of his new blue checkmark, tweeting, “Uh-oh. Thank you @elonmusk,” while adding that he has been waiting to be verified on the site for months. “The comments from BIG MAD haters are pure gold. You must not have noticed the blue checkmark. I'm elite now!” he remarked. 

The teenager who was accused of murder last year for fatally shooting two men during the 2020 BLM protests revealed he had signed up to the premium Twitter Blue service to receive the verification symbol. Rittenhouse's defense attorneys argued throughout the trial, which lasted from November 1 to November 19, 2021, that the 17-year-old shooter had acted in self-defense in August 2020 because demonstrators had "attacked him in the street like an animal." Rittenhouse reportedly had an AR-15-style firearm in his possession. Meanwhile, other conservative profiles on the website, like Libs of TikTok and anti-trans activist Billboard Chris, have also been verified on the same day. 

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Earlier, under Twitter’s old verification system, famous users and accounts considered to be of public interest could apply for a checkmark to verify their identity free of charge. Musk had criticized the guidelines as a "lords and peasants system" and framed the significant changes he has ushered in as a means to democratize the platform. On Thursday, November 10, Twitter launched its new 'Twitter Blue' feature for a few countries, which enables users to become verified users by paying a subscription fee of $7.99 per month. Following Musk's decision, there has been a flood of impersonator accounts that started to appear on the microblogging platform. 

On Thursday, November 10, a fake account with the blue tick verification badge tweeted as George W Bush, adding, “I miss killing Iraqis [sad face emoji].” Twitter instantly suspended the accounts, but the individual pretending to be George W Bush gave an explanation of why he had chosen to pay $8 to get his account verified. He wrote on Twitter, “Y’all are missing the point about the $8. It’s a small price to make this app completely unusable and I’m assuming he is going to quickly learn we can get refunds from the credit cards we used if he suspends us prior to a month. Is what I would say if I was someone other than the greatest president America has ever known.”