A list of the top 10 most-followed accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the time of publishing on Friday, 11 August 2023. Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
Elon Musk gives away a few more Twitter Blue badges
Billionaire Elon Musk has decided to pay for a few more accounts to stay verified after many blue ticked his Twitter Blue subscription.
A list of the top 10 most-followed accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the time of publishing on Friday, 11 August 2023. Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter announced that people would have to pay monthly subscription fees for their verified profiles. The announcement was met with a fair amount of murmuring from app users who were once given the small blue badge completely free.
Unsurprisingly, not many people have opted to pay to keep the Twitter Blue subscription which has seemingly forced the Tesla founder to “personally pay” for certain accounts to keep their verification badges.
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Elon Musk opts to pay for certain celebs’ Twitter Blue subscription
Elon Musk definitely annoyed millions of people after announcing a subscription fee for Twitter Blue.
In fact, Briefly News reports that as little as five percent of the 407,000 profiles affected, opted to pay the R200 fee that would not only afford them a verification badge but also allow them to edit tweets.
On Wednesday this week, those who were previously honoured with the verification badges for simply being influential and prominent figures in society were stripped of the privilege as Musk now expects them to pay for it.
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The South African previously reported how Musk resorted to paying the subscription fee for a few accounts he deems important.
In a tweet, the billionaire wrote that he is “personally paying” for author Stephen King, basketball star LeBron James and actor William Shatner’s Twitter Blue.
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More accounts get free verification
Ignoring angry tweets from some of the app’s users, Musk has seemingly decided to pay for even more famous Twitter accounts to stay verified.
Reports cite that Donald Trump, Lil Nas X and late chef Anthony Bourdain also got their badges back.
A few news publications such as The New York Times and AFP also appear to have made the cut.
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