April 20 is a big day for Twitter as the social media platform began removing blue check marks to Twitter accounts that are not subscribed to Twitter Blue. That means celebrities who are not subscribed will lose the check mark which could give them a hard time verifying it’s really them. LeBron James has said he will lose the check mark because he “ain’t paying the $5.” But when the big day came, the Los Angeles Lakers star remained verified.
Does this mean James paid the month;y fee (which is actually $8)? The Verge contacted James’ media advisor Adam Mendelsohn and said James had not paid a fee to Twitter. Other NBA players, such as Ja Morant, Stephen Curry and Zion Williamson lost their blue check marks on Thursday. James has not commented on the situation.
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There are other celebrities that still have the blue check mark but are not subscribed to Twitter Blue. Stephen King indicated that he has not subscribed or shared his phone number despite having the check mark. Ice T also has a verified badge despite “saying f— the checkmark” in March.
This move was made by Elon Musk who is the owner and CEO of Twitter. In a previous Tweet, Musk said “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities,” when it comes to being Twitter verified. The move is likely financially motivated as Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion with a lot of debt.
Musk is also trying to eliminate spam and spam accounts, but experts believe the plan won’t solve that issue. “In fact, this is making Twitter a pay-for-play system, and we know that propagandists, people working to spread disinformation and other forms of manipulation via Twitter, are very much willing and able to finance their operations,” Samuel Woolley, assistant professor at the University of Texas’ School of Information and author of the book Bots, told CNN in November. “Most of the propagandists that social media companies are most worried about, like the Russian government, the Chinese government, extremist groups, have a lot of resources,”
Musk purchased Twitter in October. Nearly two months after the acquisition, Musk announced he would step down as CEO but still remains in the position as of this writing.
