Musk removes all legacy Blue ticks, allows some celebrities to retain

Chaos prevailed on Twitter on Friday when Elon Musk finally removed all legacy verified accounts with Blue check marks but allowed some celebrities to retain it. In India, one has to shell out Rs 900 a month (or Rs 9,400 a year) to get Blue Verified status. As more than 4 lakh legacy verified users bid goodbye to the Blue check marks, some celebrities have been offered a complimentary Twitter Blue subscription “on behalf of Musk”. “I am paying for a few personally,” said Musk. “Just William Shatner, LeBron James and Stephen King,” he added. Stephen King tweeted: “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”. Musk replied: “You’re welcome namaste.” The Pope got downgraded along with Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey. Rihanna and Taylor Swift still had Blue ticks but it was not sure if they bought it or Musk allowed those to remain. “Me joining you all tomorrow unverified,” tweeted actress Halle Berry, indicating she is not going to pay Musk for the Blue badge. Many other NBA players, like Stephen Curry, Zion Williamson, and Ja Morant also lost their blue checks. Famous personalities, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, actor Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan and cricketer Virat Kohli, losing their verified statuses. Among those losing their badges were Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, BJP leader and member of the NCW Khushbu Sundar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu, former US president Donald Trump, Microsoft Corp cofounder Bill Gates and reality TV star Kim Kardashian. According to The Washington Post, there were technical challenges to removing so-called blue ticks quickly at scale and the only way to do it currently was through a manual approach.