After Twitter removed the blue verification tick from accounts of non-paying users in a big way, it has reappeared among some media outlets and celebrities – and apparently without their doing anything about it. Twitter boss Elon Musk wrote in the online service that he personally takes over the costs for some subscribers. Celebrities who had the blue tick again included best-selling author Stephen King, NBA player LeBron James and also former US President Donald Trump.
Many media outlets, such as the “New York Times” and the AFP news agency, also received the blue tick back without having registered for the paid version.
“By my soul, I didn’t pay for Twitter Blue,” commented US rapper Lil Nas X, who also got the tick back: “You’ll feel my wrath Tesla man!” “No means no folks,” technology journalist Kara Swisher wrote on Twitter. She got the tick without her consent.
Economics Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, who has previously said Musk is out of control, also said on Saturday: “So my blue tick has reappeared. I had nothing to do with it and I’m definitely not paying anything.” Musk responded with a photo of a baby covered in tomato sauce wearing a bib with the blue Twitter tick emblazoned on it.
In order to generate more revenue, Twitter announced last year that it would introduce “Twitter Blue”, for which users would have to pay eight dollars a month. On Friday, the online platform then removed the blue verification tick from the accounts of numerous users who do not have a paid subscription. So far, the accounts of politicians, celebrities, journalists and organizations have been ticked without asking for money.
The technology billionaire Musk took over the short message service last October for 44 billion dollars (today around 40 billion euros). In the course of a chaotic restructuring of the platform, the controversial entrepreneur fired top Twitter management and more than two-thirds of the 7,500 employees. According to critics, hate speech and misinformation have surged on the platform since then. Twitter has repeatedly had to deal with technical problems in recent months and has lost many advertising customers.
© 2023 AFP
2023-04-23 09:31:48
#Twitter #returning #blue #tick #media #celebrity #accounts