Writer and basketball star are among famous names to retain ticks despite not signing up to Twitter Blue
now has zero legacy verified accounts according to Travis Brown, a software developer who has been tracking Twitter’s subscription service, down from about 400,000 at the beginning of the month, with Blue sign-ups now at an estimated 630,000.
Under Musk’s plans for Twitter Blue, subscribers’ replies will gain greater prominence in users’ default For You feed, while tweets you interact with will also be boosted. However, Twitter willaccounts that people follow in their For You feed, whether or not they are Twitter Blue subscribers. Musk has said the switch to paid-for verification is necessary to eradicate automated bot accounts and generate an alternative source of income to advertising, which accounts for most of Twitter’s income.
The tech news site the Verge reported on Thursday that a Twitter employee had emailed LeBron James recently to “extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue for your account, @kingjames, on behalf of Elon Musk”. James, who has more than 52 million followers, had been a prominent opponent of paying for verification, stating last month that he “ain’t paying” for a blue check.
There was also confusion over fake accounts, an issue that has dogged Musk’s attempts to introduce a verification system, with a false New York City government account tweeting at the authentic NYC government account that “THIS account is the only authentic Twitter account representing and run by the New York City Government”. The fake account was later suspended.
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