Twitter's Blue Ticks Reinstated for Some Users After Outrage Over Subscription Model
On Saturday, Twitter reinstated blue ticks for some media, celebrity, and high-profile accounts, a move that was protested by many of the recipients.
The blue ticks, which were once a free sign of authenticity and fame, must now be purchased for $8 a month by subscribers.
Non-paying accounts lost their blue tick on Thursday, as owner Elon Musk implemented a revenue-generating strategy last year, dubbed "Twitter Blue".
Less than 5% of the 407,000 profiles affected subscribed, according to a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social media platforms.
However, on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities, including author Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James, and former US President Donald Trump, regained their blue ticks, seemingly without any action on their part.
Musk tweeted on Friday that he was "paying for a few (subscriptions) personally." Meanwhile, American rapper Lil Nas X, whose profile displays a blue tick, tweeted that he didn't pay for Twitter Blue.
Many official media accounts also regained their blue ticks, including AFP, which did not subscribe 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.
However, the accounts of some dead celebrities, such as US chef Anthony Bourdain, also received a blue tick.
Nevertheless, Twitter's reinstatement of blue 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.