Pop Base, a pop culture site, tweeted that Musk was personally paying for some celebrities’ Twitter Blue subscriptions. In response, Musk clarified that he was only paying for Shatner, James, and King’s subscriptions.
The new Twitter verification system has caused confusion, with many high-profile Twitter pages losing their blue checkmarks after refusing to pay for the subscription. However, some celebrities, like Taylor Swift and Rihanna, chose to pay for their checkmarks.
The new verification system also includes different badges for organizations, with gold checks for official businesses or corporations, gray for government organizations and officials, and affiliation badges for accounts connected to an organization on Twitter. Twitter also has a badge for state-run media entities and individuals who are part of those entities. However, after organizations like NPR complained about being mislabeled as government-funded or state-affiliated, Twitter started stripping those badges.
Despite the confusion and frustration surrounding the new system, some users have taken the changes with humor. Dionne Warwick called the new verification system an “absolute mess” and joked that the $8 would go toward her “extra hot lattes.” Chrissy Teigen joked about losing her blue checkmark with husband John Legend, and Ice-T implied that he wouldn’t be paying for his blue checkmark.
