Just days after Twitter removed all blue check verification marks from accounts that are not subscribed to Twitter Blue, CEO Elon Musk and the site’s overlords have, for whatever reason, gifted certain users a free blue check — whether they asked for it or not.
And chaos ensued.
“On my soul I didn’t pay for twitter blue,” tweeted rapper Lil Nas X. “u will feel my wrath tesla man!”
It’s becoming comical. Some users like model Chrissy Teigen and meme lord @dril have fought back against their forced blue checks. When a user changes their name on Twitter, the blue check goes away. The two have both changed their names and lost the check, but Twitter again re-assigned them. And then Teigen’s mysteriously vanished again (at least it had when this story posted).
It’s hard to imagine some of these gifts are not actually intended to be curses laid down by the Twitter powers that be, considering who some of the recipients are. @dril, for example, has been leading the “Block the Blue” campaign, pushing users to block anyone who is paying for Twitter Blue.
Other users, like actor Charlie Sheen, appear to be unironically grateful for the check.
Others were less appreciative of the forced verification. Here are just a sprinkling:
To add to the confusion, accounts of people who have passed away now appear to be paying for Twitter Blue.
For all we know, we could all wake up tomorrow with red checks, burgundy ampersands or (most likely, given Musk’s propensity and history) the Dogecoin logo next to our usernames.