A fresh round of uncertainty has been sparked by Elon Musk’s Twitter. Last week, the multibillionaire internet tycoon followed through on his promise to remove the blue checkmarks from celebrities’ Twitter accounts who didn’t pay him $8 per month. As a result, the social media platform has reinstated the badge for numerous users, even those of deceased users.
The verified blue check-mark status that had been granted to thousands of accounts belonging to celebrities, athletes, politicians, and other “notable” personalities under the previous management of the firm was withdrawn by the Musk-owned social network on April 20. While Musk has also presented it as democratising the user-verification process, the intention was to increase money from subscriptions to Twitter Blue by removing the “free” check-mark off the service.
Some of the most popular celebrities on Twitter had their “legacy” checkmarks removed, including Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, and Justin Bieber. The blue tick appeared on all of those accounts again after a short period of time, and the badges’ descriptions state that each account “is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” (It is implied that they are paying subscribers, however in many, if not most of these cases, it appears to be false.)
Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, and Justin Bieber are a few of the most well-known celebrities who had their “legacy” checkmarks removed on Twitter. After a brief period of time, the blue tick reappeared on each of those accounts. According to the badge explanations, each account “is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” (It is inferred that they are paying subscribers, however this appears to be untrue in many, if not most, of these instances.)
One individual who directly begged Musk for the return of his blue check-mark was actor Charlie Sheen, who was overjoyed to see it. Sheen tweeted the following on Friday, April 21: “hello @elonmusl Sorry about your beautiful rocket’s spectacular explosion. You’ll undoubtedly construct one that is bigger and more explosive. Please return my blue tick at this time. I would be really grateful for that. Wish fulfilled: When the blue checkmark appeared back on his account on Saturday, Sheen wrote, “Oh my! It’s like my birthday and Christmas all in one! @elonmusk I’m overcome with thanks. Rock Star action, please.
