How to Get #RatVerified: Twitter Fights Back Against Musk's Blue Check Plan

#RatVerified was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. The trend saw users poke fun at the platform over new owner Elon Musk's floated plan to charge $8 per month for verification.

Though Musk has said that the $8 fee—down from $20 following an exchange with horror titan Stephen King—will get users a number of functions, including fewer ads and longer video clips, many Twitter users have balked. But one user, Alex Cohen, the cartoonist behind Tiny Snek Comics, had a new idea for those seeking Twitter verification.

"why would i pay $8 to get a blue check if i could put a rat next to my name for free??? i'm calling on everyone to join me in becoming #RatVerified," Cohen tweeted.

As Cohen implies, it's quite simple to become #RatVerified—just add the rat emoji next to your Twitter username and, bingo, you're now one of the #Ratified.

In a later tweet, Cohen shared a screenshot of #RatVerified at No. 1 on the United States trend list.

"numba one baybee," Cohen tweeted. "this is perhaps my stupidest contribution to twitter but regardless everyone should become #RatVerified and ignore whatever stupidity elon throws your way

"do not pay for this website!!!" he added.

Cohen shared his motivations to create #RatVerified with Newsweek.

"#RatVerified is a (very silly) commentary on the idea that anyone would, or should, pay to be a verified user on Twitter. The current verification system does have a lot of issues, but when it works it helps users spot fake accounts and identify trusted sources of information," Cohen told Newsweek.

"Elon Musk's proposal to charge for verification, and to give those verified users greater visibility, solves none of the current system's problems and will only make Twitter harder to navigate. I'd rather stick a rat next to my name than support pay-to-play tweeting, and clearly others feel the same way!" he continued.

Many other users hopped on the trend, with some sharing cute pictures of rats alongside their announcements of #Ratification.

"Get #RatVerified today and welcome our new lord and saviour: Fattatouile," @MommaNegan shared, alongside a picture of a very round rat.

"YES. I choose rat over paying for blue check! #RatVerified," author Jenn Bennett—who is both Twitter verified and #RatVerified—tweeted.

"Desperately wanna be #RatVerified, but my damn blue check is getting in the way. [crying emoji, followed by three rat emoji] Iris is staging a sit-in to protest ... on Poppy's head," NPR writer Rae Alexandra shared, along with a photo of two of her pet rats.

Not everyone was delighted by the trend, however.

"All these people posting a rat in their Twitter name saying they're #RatVerified... Just say you're broke. [shrugging emoji]," documentarian Errol Webber tweeted.

Musk's plan to charge a fee to be verified has been unpopular on the platform he bought last week. While some of the criticism has been light-hearted, others point out particular issues with the change in policy.

Currently, Twitter verification is free and only available to people who fit three metrics, according to the site: Authenticity, Notability and Activity. Authenticity is simply that the Twitter user is who they say they are—for example, a verified celebrity with a blue check has been confirmed to be either the celeb or their representatives.

Activity is similarly obvious: the user must have a complete profile, confirmed email and have logged in to the site within the last six months. Twitter also requires the user not have been locked out or suspended within the last year.

Notability, however, is more nebulous. To apply for verification, a user can provide coverage from verified news organizations, a link to a Google Trends profile, their Wikipedia page or other industry-specific sites like IMDB. Follower count may also be taken into account. Twitter makes the final call as to whether or not someone gets the verified checkmark.

As Cohen said, verification helps Twitter users avoid being scammed by fake accounts. Anyone can, for example, call themselves "Elon Musk" on the platform, but only the real Elon Musk will have the checkmark. So if a fake Musk tweets that they're going to give away their fortune to the first 10 people who retweet their message—just look to see if there's a checkmark before expecting a huge check.

While the current system has its own issues—for example, it's common to see niche celebrities bemoan the fact that they don't have verification, Musk's plan is to open verification up to everyone.

"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bulls***. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," Musk tweeted Tuesday.

Critics have pointed out that many other platforms, like YouTube or Twitch, pay their top content creators, seeing the $8 plan as forcing the top content creators to pay to provide Twitter work it can then monetize.

Mrs. Doubtfire screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer tweeted, "King makes a gazillion times more for his words, but the idea of asking even me to pay to provide even my stupid content—along with knowing there will suddenly be 1000s of 'verified' but fake 'Stephen King's—proves Elon does not understand the thing he just paid $44B for."

"In fact, I would not pay a dime for verification," journalist Kara Swisher agreed. "In fact, social media should pay its creators and treat them with respect, instead of unleashing knuckleheads on them. Like I said, f*** that."

Supporters of Musk's plan say that it will reduce the number of bots on the platform, rebuild trust among its user base and bring new users who feel as if they have a stake in the platform, since they're paying to be there.

Newsweek reached out to Twitter for comment.