Twitter Reinstates Blue Ticks For LeBron James, Donald Trump, Few Others

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the microblogging platform, Twitter, Elon Musk on Saturday reinstated the blue ticks on celebrity and other high-profile accounts.

This is coming after Twitter deactivated the blue ticks of verified accounts which did not pay for $8 per month subscription.

Naija News had earlier reported that Twitter on Thursday deactivated blue tick on accounts with a move to generate money from verified accounts.

A Berlin-based software developer who tracks social media platforms, Travis Brown during the weekend said less than 5 per cent of the 407,000 profiles affected subscribed for the blue tick.

However, on Friday and Saturday, some 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 on Friday Tweeted that he was “paying for a few (subscriptions) personally.”

American rapper Lil Nas X, whose profile displays the blue tick, tweeted: “On my soul, I didn’t pay for Twitter blue, u will feel my wrath, tesla man!”

The accounts of some dead celebrities, such as US chef Anthony Bourdain, also received a blue tick.

Many official media accounts regained a tick, including AFP, which has not subscribed to Twitter Blue.

The New York Times got back its gold badge this month after Musk had bashed the news organization as “propaganda”.

The Times is among the major media groups that have a gold tick reserved for an “official business account” paying at least $1,000 a month.

The reinstated ticks did not lure back US public radio NPR and Canada’s public broadcaster CBC, which recently suspended activity on their accounts and had not resumed tweeting as of Sunday.

The broadcasters were among those to protest the “state-affiliated” and “government-funded” labels Twitter attached to them, which were previously reserved for non-independent media funded by autocratic governments.

Twitter removed these labels on Friday, including those applied to China’s official news agency Xinhua and Russia’s RT.