Turning blue check into a paid service with features seems reasonable to me. I have no incentive to be prioritised in threads or be seen by more people: I’m not trying to sell services, or bring people to my platform to make some ad revenue, etc. For those that do, it makes sense, and I feel sorry for the people that are torn between a cheap way of getting exposure and a crowd of bullies who mock them for it.
It also makes sense that people with large followings get it for free, because they’re contributing to the platform. I saw people comparing their free subscription without consent to “r*pe” and, well, there’s no reasoning with that kind of lunatic.
OTOH it’s extremely funny to see blue check accounts with 12 followers, especially ones that have been active for years and just post photos of their dog every few days. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WHY ARE THEY PAYING IT MAKES NO SENSE