Twitter CEO Elon Musk, apparently hoping to garner some positive media buzz as he watches the social media platform continue to tank, thought it’d be a great idea to let the world know that he’s paying for some celebrities to have a verified account, even though everyone else has to pay $8 a month for a blue check next to their screen name.
According to Time, “The costs of keeping the marks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. Twitter does not verify the individual accounts, as was the case with the previous blue check doled out during the platform’s pre-Musk administration.”
Celebrity users, from basketball star LeBron James to author Stephen King and Star Trek’s William Shatner, have balked at joining — although on Thursday, all three had blue checks indicating that the account paid for verification.
King was even more emphatic.
“My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t.”
That led Musk to respond: “You’re welcome namaste”
It seems that Musk intended his move as a form of trolling, but as many others on Twitter noted, it reeked of desperation and failed miserably.
Is it really any surprise that Twitter has lost half of its value since Musk took over?
