Elon Musk said that is “personally paying” for paid verification of some celebrities

A few days ago, Twitter removed the legacy blue tick from all accounts. With the launch of paid subscription service Twitter Blue, only users who have subscribed will be able to have a blue checkmark in front of their names along with access to some brand-new features. Due to this development, many celebrities and noted personalities across various domains had lost their coveted verification check mark. However, now, it seems that the microblogging site’s new owner Elon Musk has made some exceptions for people who have not enrolled for the service. He seems to have restored the blue badge of users with reportedly over a million followers, a report in Rolling Stone. 

Several users who have at least one million Twitter followers discovered today that the blue ticks they had until Friday, April 20 have returned to their accounts. But the blue checks that were restored display that the accounts are verified because they are paying for Twitter Blue. Bollywood actors like Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan, cricketers Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, former US President Donald Trump, and billionaire Bill Gates, who also lost their blue ticks because of the new update, have the blue checkmark back on their profile. Although, it is not clear whether they have paid for the verification or not. 

The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah also took to Twitter to point out the same. He said, “Apparently I’ve paid for Twitter Blue & given them a phone number to verify except that I haven’t. Mr Musk are you paying for mine as well?”

Apparently I’ve paid for Twitter Blue & given them a phone number to verify except that I haven’t. Mr Musk are you paying for mine as well? 😄

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 23, 2023

In a strange occurrence, even profiles of celebrities and noted personalities who are no more, have a verified checkmark next to their account indicating that they are subscribed to the new paid verification feature. “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number,” reads the text when one hovers on the blue badge of Former Minister of External Affairs of India Sushma Swaraj, actors Sushant Singh Rajput, Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor, singer Micheal Jackson, basketball player Kobe Bryant, cricketer Shane Warne among many others.

However, it is also to be noted that the Co-Founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, who has 6.5 million followers on the platform, still does not have the blue badge next to his profile.

Earlier, the CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, had stated that he is “personally paying” for the Twitter Blue subscriptions of some celebrities to keep their checkmark. These included basketball star LeBron James, Star Trek star William Shatner and author Stephen King. This came after they had publicly announced that they would not sign up for the paid service.