“I’m paying for a few personally,” said Twitter owner Elon Musk Thursday in response to a report in The Verge that he is paying for the blue verification badges of some high-profile users.
After months of warnings that verification would be stripped from all users who do not pay for the Twitter Blue service, the checkmark rapture finally happened Thursday. Popular users such as Chrissy Teigen, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates are now checkmark free.
However, some seemed to keep their checkmarks without paying for Twitter Blue. For example, LeBron James.
“Welp guess my blue [check] will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5,” he said in a March 31 tweet. Even so, it was still there on Friday.
“The Verge has confirmed that an employee at Twitter recently emailed James,” said the outlet. It said that Twitter emailed the basketball star to “extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue,” on behalf of Musk. James’ longtime media advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, confirmed that James isn’t paying for the checkmark.
Another high-profile Twitter user who seemed surprised to keep their checkmark was novelist Stephen King.
“My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t,” he said in a Thursday tweet.
“You’re welcome namaste,” said Musk.
After The Verge reported on Musk’s checkmark gift to James, it also found that he is in fact paying for few other account verifications, including King’s and actor William Shatner’s. According to the outlet, King is actually partially responsible for the fact that Twitter Blue costs $8 monthly rather than $20.
“Some government agencies – including the official account for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and accounts for some state Customs and Border Patrol offices – also lost their blue checks, which weren’t immediately replaced by the gray checks Twitter has designated for government accounts,” CNN reported.
“Though we have lost our checkmark, this is the official USCIS twitter account. Please beware of imposter accounts,” said U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services Thursday.
While Musk has paid for Shatner’s Twitter Blue account, the “Star Trek” actor has pushed back against the idea of paid verification as James has. Another high-profile user that has pushed back is Monica Lewinsky, though it does not appear that Musk has paid for her to keep her checkmark.
“Please connect w/ me elsewhere… insta MONICA_LEWINSKY and most of the other new places that have real verification under my name,” she said in a Thursday tweet.
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