These Celebrities, Politicians And Sports Stars Are Still Verified On Twitter—But Musk Is Paying For Some

Topline

All but a handful of the world’s most famous people lost the blue checkmarks on their Twitter accounts Thursday, as company owner Elon Musk fulfilled his goal of shifting the verification badge into one of the prime benefits of an $8-a-month subscription plan, though Musk later admitted he’s personally paying for a few accounts after some celebrities were baffled they still had blue checks.

Key Facts

Contra

Horror author Stephen King still had a blue checkmark, but denied paying for one, tweeting Thursday afternoon: “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.” Rapper Ice T—who said “F— that checkmark” in March—still had one, too. “Hey. Maybe it’ll disappear soon.. F it,” he tweeted Thursday.

Surprising Fact

Some users complained they subscribed to Twitter Blue for its non-checkmark benefits, like security features allowing for two-factor authentication through text, and were irritated to see they still had a checkmark. “All I wanted was two-factor authentication and now am trapped with this embarrassing blue checkmark…,” Axios reporter Juliegrace Brufke tweeted.

Key Background

Twitter started removing blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts just before 2 p.m. Eastern time Thursday—in a process that took about 30 minutes and was riddled with minor glitches. Musk—whose net worth stands at $173.6 billion—said one of his top priorities for buying Twitter last year was to “authenticate all humans,” but he quickly pivoted after taking over the company to utilize the checkmark’s status symbol reputation to build a subscriber base. Twitter announced its $8-per-month Twitter Blue service in early November, with the blue checkmark as its selling point. “Power to the people,” Twitter said when it announced the plan, promoting how all paying users would get a blue checkmark “just like the celebrities.” Twitter is also offering gold checkmarks to organizations that pay a significant fee, and accounts linked to paying organizations can sign up for verification, though the platform’s top advertisers and 10,000 most followed organizations were slated to get free checkmarks, the New York Times reported last month. Musk has said growing the subscriber base through Twitter Blue is critical to the company’s financial future after advertising revenue dropped last year, reportedly warning staffers in November Twitter could go bankrupt without “significant subscription revenue.”

Chief Critic

Twitter has faced criticism that paying for blue checkmarks could lead to the total opposite of Musk’s stated goal of authenticating users, by encouraging imposters. There have already been numerous examples of fake accounts spreading misinformation on Twitter, while the platform has been criticized for its lax identity verification process to receive a checkmark. A Washington Post reporter on multiple occasions created a fake account in Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-Mass.) name, for example, after the senator agreed to take part in an experiment to test Twitter’s verification standards.

Tangent

King may have inadvertently played a role in the development of Twitter’s subscription plan. After he criticized reports that Twitter was considering a $20-per-month offer for Twitter Blue, Musk responded in a tweet in the middle of the night on November 1, telling him: “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”

Further Reading

Twitter Removes Blue Checkmarks From Verified Accounts—Unless Users Pay (Forbes)

Twitter Boosts Character Limit To 4,000 For Twitter Blue Subscribers (Forbes)

Twitter Will Sell Coveted Blue Checkmark For $8 A Month, Musk Says—But Benefits Still Unclear (Forbes)

Musk Tells Staff Twitter Could Go Bankrupt Without Financial Turnaround, Reports Say (Forbes)