Twitter’s blue ticks were reinstated on some media, celebrity, and other high-profile accounts 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 $8 a month, Twitter says.
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Non-paying accounts that had a blue tick lost it on Thursday, as owner Elon Musk implemented a strategy, dubbed “Twitter Blue”, to generate new revenue, announced last year.
Only a tiny fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed – less than 5 per cent of the 407,000 profiles affected, according to Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social media platforms.
But on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities regained their blue ticks, seemingly without action on their part, including author Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James and former US president Donald Trump.
Musk tweeted Friday that he was “paying for a few (subscriptions) personally.”