Elon Musk-led Twitter giving blue tick back to celebrities, even dead ones; here’s why

Elon Musk, who once believed that the legacy verification checkmark was a sign of ‘elitism’ and had to be taken down to support free speech and equality, seems to have taken a 180-degree turn on his stand. The social media platform seems to have restored the verification badges of many celebrities, even dead ones.

It all started with LeBron James, Stephen King and William Shatner. The three of them had refused to pay the $8 to get on the Twitter Blue plan, despite that their profiles showed that they had subscribed to Twitter Blue. Stephen King even tweeted about this:

My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t.
My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) April 20, 2023

Musk later revealed in a tweet that he had paid for the Twitter Blue subscription for a few celebrities ad public figures personally.

But on Sunday, it was observed that the verification badges started returning on the profiles of other celebrities too. This included a range of public figures from comedian John Oliver to economist Paul Krugman to model turned-actress Sofia Vergara. The verification badges also started returning to profiles of Indian public figures like AR Rahman, Shah Rukh Khan, and Virat Kohli, among others.

All such profiles show that they had subscribed to Twitter Blue after paying $8 and have also verified their phone number. Many of them took to Twitter to deny the same.

It gets stranger, the verified badge also returns on the profiles of public figures who are long dead. This includes the Twitter profile of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, actor Chadwick Boseman, pop star Michael Jackson, comedian Norm Macdonald, basketball player Kobe Bryant, and others. Although many of these accounts have been inactive for years now, their profile still shows the message that they have subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.

It seems like Musk-led Twitter has restored the verification badge of all Twitter users who have over 1 million followers on the platform. Several Twitter users highlighted the irony of this development.

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