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.
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 percent 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.