After approximately two days of purging “legacy checkmarks,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk appears to be waving the white flag.
Across Twitter on Saturday, some of the platform’s biggest names, from Stephen King to Chrissy Teigen, expressed surprise when their fickle checkmarks suddenly reappeared.
“Friends told me my blue verified check was restored. Dont know why. I've paid nothing. I gave no number,” tweeted Seinfeld star Jason Alexander.
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It appeared that Musk had only restored the blue checks to users with the highest follower counts, seemingly caving on an issue that has deviled the platform since he made the decision to introduce his $8-a-month Twitter Blue verification system.
Musk’s decision on Thursday to finally make good on his promise to only verify those who paid the fee threw the platform into chaos, with the mass de-verification opening the door for a host of celebrity imposter accounts.
Yet in classic Musk fashion, the Chief Twit initially attempted to cast his capitulation as an epic troll.
“I will pay for your blue check – my gift to you,” Musk tweeted in response to a thread in which former Labor Secretary Robert Reich rejected his blue check and denounced the “oligarchs who have too much power over the Internet.”
Musk later tweeted “check mate.”
However, the move appeared to be much more far-reaching than a mere prank on those who had criticized the verification system.
From Pope Francis to former President Donald Trump, numerous notables who had not waded into the blue check debacle also saw their verifications restored after briefly losing them.
As the checks flooded back in, many celebs who were vocal about their decision not to pay the $8 made sure to let their followers know that the restoration was not their doing.
“Good lord, I’ve been LeBroned, Shatnered, Kinged without my consent. No means no, boys,” tweeted tech journalist Kara Swisher.
Tiegen even offered her followers advice on how to rid themselves of the pesky badge, instructing Pod Save America host Jon Favreau, “change your name and it triggers a checkmark removal. But then don’t talk about it again or you will get another. Im serious lol.”
Yet many others from Malala Yousafazi to Charlie Sheen were just excited to see their verification come back.
“I don’t know what happened but I’m happy to have my blue tick back so everyone knows I am still Malala,” the girls’ education activist tweeted.
What will come next in the Elon-Twitter saga is anyone’s guess, but it seems abundantly clear that Musk is not even close to having a handle on all this.
