Elon Musk has taken it upon himself to fund the Twitter Blue subscriptions for prominent figures like writer Stephen King and basketball star LeBron James, ensuring their accounts retain the verified blue tick. This move comes after Twitter initiated a massive cull that removed the verified status from many famous accounts, including those of Beyoncé, Ronaldo, and Paul McCartney.
Twitter’s blue tick shakeup
On Thursday, Musk followed through on his earlier promise to remove the blue tick from approximately 400,000 legacy verified accounts unless they subscribed to Twitter Blue. The subscription costs at least $8 per month in the US, £9.60 in the UK, and A$13 in Australia. As a result, several well-known celebrities with millions of followers lost their blue check status.
Twitter now has zero legacy verified accounts, according to software developer Travis Brown. The number of Twitter Blue subscribers is estimated at around 630,000. Under the new plan, subscribers’ replies will gain more visibility in users’ default For You feed, and tweets users interact with will also be promoted. Musk has stated that the shift to a paid verification system is crucial to eliminate automated bot accounts and provide an alternative revenue stream to advertising.
Celebrities retaining verified status
Gary Lineker, Match of the Day presenter and active Twitter user, maintained his blue check as of Friday morning, indicating that he had paid for verified status. LeBron James, who initially opposed paying for verification, received a complimentary Twitter Blue subscription on behalf of Elon Musk, as reported by The Verge.
Stephen King, the renowned author of The Shining and It, expressed confusion about his verified account indicating he was a Twitter Blue subscriber, despite not having signed up for it. In response, Musk revealed that he had covered the subscription for King to help him keep his verified status.
Official organizations now have a gray “official” tick instead of the blue check, including Pope Francis’s account. Meanwhile, the issue of fake accounts continues to plague Musk’s efforts to implement a verification system, with a false New York City government account claiming to be the official NYC government Twitter account before being suspended.
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