Technology

Twitter logo-swap fuels rise in dogecoin

Bird logo replaced by Shiba Inu meme image

Attention has focused on the image of a doge in place of the blue Twitter bird. Photograph: Jason Henry/New York Times

Tue Apr 4 2023 - 17:36

Cryptocurrency dogecoin rose as much as 30 per cent after Twitter changed its logo to the dog meme after which the coin is named.

Some Twitter users began to notice the home button in the top left corner of their web browsers – usually the company’s solid blue bird logo – had been replaced with a cartoon of the Shiba Inu dog that is the face of the doge meme yesterday afternoon.

Twitter owner Elon Musk then posted a photo of an earlier exchange in which a Twitter user urged him to change the bird logo to a doge. Musk tweeted “As promised”.

Dogecoin rose to as high as 10.2 cents from about 7.7 cents after the change. Doge also began to trend on Twitter.

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The Twitter owner is being sued over an alleged pyramid scheme associated with the cryptocurrency in a $258 billion (€240 billion) US lawsuit brought by dogecoin investors which the billionaire has asked to be dismissed.

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The change to Twitter’s logo comes days after Twitter began making changes to its verification system. Some accounts with so-called legacy verification, like the New York Times, saw their check marks removed. Others have kept their checks with a note they were either Blue subscribers or legacy verified accounts.

TV presenter Graham Norton expressed his concerns after his Twitter account appeared to have been hacked amid continued verification concerns on the social media platform. The 60-year-old TV star deleted his Twitter account, @grahnort, last year but posted on Instagram on Monday evening that the old Twitter page had been reactivated.

Posting to more than 600,000 followers, Norton urged people to “spread the word” that the account had not been reactivated by him, despite it still having a blue verified tick.

“I’ve just been told someone has reactivated my Twitter account. I’m now locked out of it,” said the Eurovision host. “My worry is that whoever has access may try sending DMs asking for money or donations. Please spread the word that it is not me, even though it still has a blue tick.”

Norton’s statement comes after Twitter failed to take legacy blue checkmarks off the social media platform, having committed to removing them on April 1st and confusion over changes made by Mr Musk.

There have been widespread concerns over verification on Twitter since blue verified checkmarks became a paid feature on the platform, with users paying a monthly fee of eight dollars for a Twitter Blue subscription.

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Several celebrities have shared examples of fake profiles impersonating them, including financial journalist and broadcaster Martin Lewis.

“So this fake account promoting crypto has a blue tick? Let’s see whether it is taken down when I report this impersonation,” Mr Lewis tweeted on Monday. The account impersonating Mr Lewis appeared to have since been removed.

In a separate tweet, the Money Saving Expert founder said he contacted Twitter’s press office about the issue, only to receive an autoresponse of the poo emoji.

“So when we emailed Twitter’s press office to discuss the blue tick verified fraudulent scammer’s account pretending to be me, the only reply is the autoresponse below with one emoji,” he tweeted.

Many celebrities have indicated they will not pay for a Twitter Blue subscription, including basketball star LeBron James, model Chrissy Teigen and actor Ben Stiller. – Bloomberg/PA

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