CELEBS ✓'D OUT
Verified Twit purge chaos
Twitter’s move to strip away legacy verification sparked mass confusion Friday — with some celebrities keeping their blue checks while others, including Pope Francis and Kim Kardashian, joined the unverified masses. The Elon Musk-led platform carried out its longthreatened purge of legacy verified accounts Thursday. In order to get a blue check, users must now sign up for an $8-permonth “Twitter Blue” service. However, author Stephen King was bewildered after noticing his account was still verified — even though he has bashed Musk’s verification overhaul. NBA star LeBron James and “Star Trek” actor William Shatner also kept their checks. “My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t,” King tweeted to his 7.1 million followers. “My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t. Just so you know.” “You’re welcome namaste,” Musk replied. He later tweeted, “I’m paying for a few personally. Just Shatner, LeBron and King.”
The three celebrities had all declared they would not pay for verification. Their accounts displayed the textbook message describing them as “verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” In October, King had said he would be “gone like Enron” if Musk followed through with his verification changes. James’ media adviser, Adam Mendelsohn, confirmed to The Verge that he hadn’t paid. A Twitter employee purportedly emailed James to inform him that the company had decided to “extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue for your account, @kingjames, on behalf of Elon Musk.”
Other popular accounts, such as those belonging to Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus, also retained their blue checks — though it was not clear if they had paid for Twitter Blue.
Kardashian, Beyoncé, former President Donald Trump and even the Pope also lost their blue checks — though the latter was given a gray check for a “government or multilateral organization account.”
President Biden and the White House also got gray checks. Ex-President Barack Obama got a blue check, with the site explaining it’s because the former president’s account is an affiliate of the @TheObamaOffice account, which in turn got a gold check for businesses.
“So by revoking my blue check mark because I wouldn’t pay some arbitrary fee, someone can just be me and say a bunch of bulls--t,” wrote actress Alyssa Milano. “Does that mean Twitter and @elonmusk are liable for defamation or identity theft or fraud?”
Musk called Twitter’s old verification process a “lords and peasants system.” But an initial launch of
Twitter Blue in November saw a spike in verified troll accounts impersonating famous figures, prompting an uproar among advertisers and led Twitter to temporarily suspend its plans.