Delhi, April 23: Twitter began revoking the coveted blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts starting Thursday which led to thousands of journalists, politicians, and government officials around the world losing their blue ticks. However, it now looks like that Twitter owner Elon Musk doesn't want celebrities to lose their Blue Tick and is allegedly restoring verification badges to high-profile accounts for free.

Livemint reported that the microblogging platform is giving out Blue Check verification badges to accounts with at least one million followers, without the account holders enrolling  for the Twitter Blue subscription. Elon Musk Should Give My Blue Check Mark to Charity, Says Famous American Author Stephen King.

The report says that several accounts with over a million followers found that their Blue Check verification badges, which had disappeared during Elon Musk's recent purge of legacy verified accounts, had been reinstated. Twitter Blue Tick Gone! Elon Musk-Owned Platform Removes Verified Blue Checkmark From Legacy Account Users Who Don't Opt for Its Paid Subscription Plan.

This move comes after several celebrities stood their ground and opted out of the Twitter Blue subscription service. However, the profiles of these celebrities show that they have 'subscribed to Twitter Blue', even though they have not. Even dormant accounts of celebrities who have passed away show that they are subscribers of Twitter Blue.

Some celebrities who have confirmed that they  have not paid for the Twitter Blue service but have still retained their blue tick include former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Journalist and author Kara Swisher and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. Musk had recently said that he is paying for the Twitter blue subscription of LeBron James, Stephen King and William Shatner.

Tweet by Omar Abdullah

It is important to note that Twitter Blue, the $8 per month premium service, replaced the previous free verification process that was implemented to prevent misinformation and impersonation on the platform.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2023 12:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).