A few days ago, Twitter removed the legacy blue tick from all accounts. With the launch of paid subscription service Twitter Blue, only subscribing users will be able to put a blue checkmark in front of their name along with access to some brand-new features. Due to this development, many celebrities and well-known personalities in various domains had lost their coveted verification check mark. However, it now looks like Elon Musk, the new owner of the microblogging site, has made some exceptions for those who have not enrolled for the service. It appears to have reportedly restored the blue badges of users with more than a million followers, in a report Rolling stone,
Several users with at least one million Twitter followers found today that the blue ticks they had as of Friday, April 20, have been returned to their accounts. But the restored blue checks display that the accounts are verified because they are paying for Twitter Blue. Blue checkmarks are back on their profiles of 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 due to the new update. However, it is not clear whether he paid for the verification or not.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also mentioned this on Twitter. He said, “Apparently I paid for Twitter Blue and gave them a phone number to verify except I haven’t. Mr. Musk are you paying for me too?”
Apparently I paid for Twitter Blue and gave them a phone number to verify except I haven’t. Mr Musk are you paying for me too?
– Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 23, 2023
In a strange occurrence, profiles of celebrities and celebrities who are no longer there have a verified checkmark next to their account indicating they are members of the new paid verification feature. Hovering over the blue badges of India’s former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, actors Sushant Singh Rajput, Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor, the text reads, “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and have verified their phone numbers.” Singer Michael Jackson, basketball player Kobe Bryant, cricketer Shane Warne among many others.
However, it should also be noted that Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, who has 6.5 million followers on the platform, still does not have the blue badge next to his profile.
Earlier, Twitter CEO Elon Musk had said that he is “personally paying” for the Twitter Blue subscriptions of some celebrities to retain their checkmark. These included basketball star LeBron James, Star Trek star William Shatner, and author Stephen King. This came after they publicly announced that they would not be signing up for the paid service.