Ever since the song “So High” went viral on SoundCloud, Doja Cat has been a viral sensation. Her song, “Mooo!” launched her into mainstream virality and then “Say So” dominated TikTok and the radio. The key to Doja Cat’s virality is that she grew up on the internet. She is a talented singer, trained dancer, undeniable performer, and an edge lord.
If you were unaware of Doja’s unique personality, then take a look at her Twitter. In Doja-like fashion, she changed her profile picture on Halloween to a graphic that says, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” and her Twitter name to “christmas” to push the joke further.
However, the timely joke just happened to coincide with Twitter changing its verification process.
As everyone knows by now, due to what a shambles it’s been, Elon Musk bought Twitter because he wanted to protect his personal ideals of “free speech.” It’s hard to ignore the whirlwind that is the verification debate on Twitter. There has been nothing except mutiny and chaos on the platform since Musk acquired the app. Every day, the rules of the app have been changing, with users struggling to keep up with the updates.
Now the blue verification checkmark will be subscription based so that everyone can have that little blue checkmark. (Well, not anymore, because things just keep changing.) Of course, the verified users tested the flawed nature of this new rule and changed their name to the new owner/CEO by sending salacious tweets posing as Elon Musk. This event led to, yet again, another change in policy, with verified users unable to change their display names.
So, it appeared that Doja Cat would be stuck with the name “christmas” for the rest of her tenure on Twitter.
The internet has been blowing up about the new policies, especially Doja Cat’s situation.
Twitter’s new policy will only lead to many odd verified users. Quickly, an account popped up with the display name Jesus Christ, with the handle @jesus, and was verified. While obviously a joke account, the verification system seemed to have become incredibly relaxed. It appeared that being authentic, notable, and active were no longer criteria, with anyone who paid $8 getting a checkmark, which required clicking through to individual profiles to find it if that check meant actual verification or if it had just been bought.
Access to the legacy verification rules is still available here.
As for the new verification process, I could write the rules, but I’m sure they’ll change every day for the next month. So instead, here’s a link to the help center page because I don’t have the time or energy to update this article daily.
In a very Doja Cat fashion, she expressed her concerns about the situation by tweeting:
To conclude Doja Cat’s journey, she has finally been able to change her display name—from christmas to fart, which is a much more appropriate year-round screen name. Will everyone get the chance to change their screen name as quickly as Doja Cat from the CEO and owner of Twitter? We’ll see, but I doubt it.
(via Republic and Mercury, featured image: “I Like You (A Happier Song)” Music Video with Post Malone and Doja Cat)
