Don’t want to pay US$8 (S$11) to get a blue tick on Twitter? Just tick it yourself.

At least that is what Singapore Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin did on Monday.

And to cover his bases, he has ticked himself in other colours as well, just to be sure, he said in a Facebook post, adding the hashtags #insurance and #hedging.

Mr Tan also took a dig at himself with the hashtag #cheapo, suggesting he might not pay to have his blue tick reinstated.

The blue tick once conferred authenticity on accounts verified by Twitter.

A number of high-profile accounts around the world saw their prized blue ticks removed recently because they had not paid for it.

It was part of Twitter owner Elon Musk’s strategy dubbed “Twitter Blue”, a bid to generate new revenue.

But some blue ticks have been randomly reinstated – including those of accounts of people who have been dead for years.

Mr Musk tweeted last Friday that he was “paying for a few (subscriptions) personally”.

Celebrities and public figures have taken to the platform to deny having paid the monthly US$8 that yields the blue tick, which has now come to symbolise support for Mr Musk.