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On Saturday, April 22, Twitter returned its blue verified checkmarks to celebrities with at least 1 million followers, even if they did not subscribe to its new Twitter Blue verification service.
This reversed an earlier decision on Thursday, April 20, that saw bold face Jersey names like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Stewart, Shaquille O'Neal and Queen Latifah lose their verification status, looking like every other non-famous user on Twitter.
Stewart had some fun with (briefly) losing his blue status.
The blue checkmarks come with a notice that the celebrities subscribed to Twitter Blue, even though people like Chrissy Teigen and Stephen King denied ponying up the $8 a month for the service.
Even dead celebrities were not immune to their blue checkmarks getting resurrected. Kobe Bryant, Norm Macdonald and Anthony Bourdain were among the Twitter accounts that claimed to be subscribed to Twitter Blue with a verified phone number that seems unlikely, because well, you know.
Critics have feared forcing everyone to subscribe for blue checkmarks could lead to imposter accounts and misinformation spreading while Twitter owner Elon Musk believes it will lead to a more democratic system on the site.
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