Twitter Inc’s blue ticks were reinstated on some media, celebrity and other high-profile accounts on Saturday — a move protested by many of the recipients.
Once a free sign of authenticity and fame, blue ticks must now be bought by subscribers for US$8 a month, Twitter says.
Nonpaying accounts that had a blue tick lost it on Thursday, as Twitter CEO Elon Musk implemented a strategy announced last year, dubbed “Twitter Blue,” to generate new revenue.
Photo: Reuters
Only a tiny fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed — less than 5 percent of the 407,000 profiles affected, said Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social media platforms.
However, on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities regained their blue ticks, seemingly without action on their part, including author Stephen King, basketball star LeBron James and former US president Donald Trump.
Musk wrote on Twitter on Friday that he was “paying for a few [subscriptions] personally.”
US rapper Lil Nas X, whose profile displays the blue tick, wrote: “on my soul i didn’t pay for twitter blue, u will feel my wrath tesla man!”
The accounts of some dead celebrities, such as US chef Anthony Bourdain, also received a blue tick.
Many official media accounts regained a tick, including Agence France-Presse, which has not subscribed to Twitter Blue.
The New York Times got back its gold badge this month after Musk had bashed the news organization as “propaganda.”
The newspaper is among the major media groups that have a gold tick reserved for an “official business account” paying at least US$1,000 a month.
The reinstated ticks did not lure back US public broadcaster National Public Radio and Canadian Broadcasting Corp, which recently suspended activity on their accounts and had not resumed tweeting as of yesterday.
The broadcasters were among those who protested the “state-affiliated” and “government-funded” labels Twitter attached to them, which were previously reserved for state media funded by autocratic governments.
Twitter removed these labels on Friday, including those applied to Xinhua news agency and TV channel Russia Today.
Many who unwillingly gained blue ticks made it clear that they had not subscribed, as the badge became a symbol of support for Musk.
“No means no, boys,” tech journalist Kara Swisher wrote on Saturday, saying that she had gained the blue tick without her consent.
“Inquiring minds need to know: Does Elon love me for me or for my 1.49 million followers?” she added, two hours after saying she would not pay “$8/month for blue check and meh features.”
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was also bestowed a blue tick, wrote on Saturday: “We did not subscribe to Twitter Blue.”
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who in July last year mocked Musk, saying he had “poor impulse control,” said on Saturday: “So my blue check has reappeared. I had nothing to do with that, and am definitely not paying.”
Musk, who heads Twitter, Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp, responded with an image of a baby smeared with tomato sauce, crying over his plate of pasta and wearing a bib with a superimposed blue tick.
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