On Thursday, Twitter finally followed through on its promise to remove the verified blue checkmark from accounts that weren’t paying for its $8-a-month Twitter Blue service. As it turns out, the three accounts that didn’t pay for Twitter Blue kept their blue checkmark, and it’s all because of Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Those three accounts are from best-selling author Stephen King, NBA basketball star LeBron James and the star of the 1980s cop show. TJ Hocker, William Shatner. King mentioned that he had not paid. Twitter Blue in a postbut still had a checkmark, and Musk responded to the message. With, “You’re welcome Namaste”. That later Clarified that he was just paying. For King, James and Shatner’s Blue Checkmark.
So why would Musk pay out of his own pocket to have these three specific accounts authenticated? It remains unclear. Even weirder is Musk paying for King’s checkmark. King has been very vocal about his feelings about Musk taking over Twitter in 2022. Posting on occasion that while he thought Musk was a “visionary” with running the Tesla car company, “he was a terrible fit for Twitter.
There’s no word yet on how many people have paid for Twitter Blue, which offers more features than just that blue checkmark. In reality, we may never really know, as it is now a private company owned by Musk.
