Twitter removed the blue marks last week from accounts that don't pay a monthly fee. But the check marks mysteriously returned for many highly followed accounts over the weekend, leading some prominent users to disavow what's become a divisive symbol of Twitter owner Elon Musk's erratic changes to the platform.
The account belonging to the Auschwitz Memorial, which has 1.5 million followers and regularly tweets out photos and names of Holocaust victims, tweeted on Sunday that after two days of no blue check mark, its account was reverified. The Memorial said it was "obliged to clarify" that it never subscribed and paid for Twitter Blue as the icon implies.
Other high-profile accounts with more than 1 million followers also took to Twitter to make it clear they didn't pay to get their blue check back. Those who chimed in included Massachusetts Institute of Technology, actor Bette Midler, gymnast Simone Biles Owens, writer Neil Gaiman and rapper Lil Nas X.
"On my soul i didn't pay for twitter blue, u will feel my wrath tesla man!" wrote the rapper who has 8 million followers. Added Gaiman, who has 3 million followers: "What a sad, muddled place this has become."
Midler posted on Twitter Sunday: "Yes, Elon gave me back my blue check but I didn't pay for it. Does that make me a good guy or a bad guy? I'm so confused." But by Monday, there was no sign she had a blue check.
On Twitter, the blue check icon appears on accounts next to text that says: "subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number." Since last week, blue check marks also appeared on profiles of dead public figures, including author and chef Anthony Bourdain, who died in 2018; the actor Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020; and the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated in 2018.
Under the original blue-check system, Twitter had roughly 400,000 verified users, including Hollywood actors and star athletes as well as journalists, human rights activists and public agencies. In the past, the checks meant that Twitter had verified that users were who they said they were, as a method to prevent impersonation and the spread of misinformation.
But now anyone can buy a Twitter Blue subscription starting at $8 a month. It no longer means the user is verified -- other than confirming a phone number -- but promises a number of features including the ability to have more people see their tweets.
Legal experts said Twitter doling out subscriptions to people and institutions that didn't want them, and implying that they paid for it could run afoul of the federal Lanham Act, which prohibits false advertising, as well as other regulations.
The fact that some accounts say they are subscribed to Twitter Blue -- even though they have been outspoken about not subscribing -- can create a sense of "false endorsement," said Alejandra Caraballo, an instructor at the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.
That said, a false endorsement lawsuit would be limited to "actual damages" the person suffered as a result, Caraballo added.
"My guess is the most common thing is that if someone really is upset about this, they could send a cease-and-desist letter to get Twitter to take it down," she said.
Musk has pushed for the premium service as a way to increase revenue and upend what he called a "lords & peasants system" that he believes gave too many people an undeserved status symbol for free. But only a fraction of users -- and very few of those who had the blue checks before -- are buying the service.
An inability to sell subscriptions or find other ways of making money could present problems for Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last year and has struggled to keep advertisers -- its main source of revenue -- from fleeing the platform.
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An Israeli strike on a school where displaced people were sheltering in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 16 people on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said.
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Abousfian Abdelrazik told a court Wednesday about the roller-coaster of emotions he experienced during the tense days of early 2009 when he awaited the green light to return to Canada from Sudan.
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A Real Canadian Superstore in B.C.'s Fraser Valley was evacuated Tuesday night due to a "suspicious" fire in the toilet paper aisle, according to authorities.
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Pope Francis issued the fourth encyclical of his papacy on Thursday, denouncing a world that 'is losing its heart' during times of global turmoil marked by 'wars, socio-economic disparities and the uses of technology that threaten our humanity.'
Trash carried by a North Korean balloon fell on the presidential compound in central Seoul on Thursday, officials said, the second such case in recent months that raise concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean sites during potential North Korean aggression.
An Israeli strike on a school where displaced people were sheltering in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 16 people on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said.
Turkiye鈥檚 air force struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in apparent retaliation for an attack at a key state-run defence company that killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others.
The Justice Department warned Elon Musk鈥檚 America PAC in recent days that his US$1 million sweepstakes to registered voters in swing states may violate federal law, people briefed on the matter told CNN.
If you鈥檙e a regular visitor to Walt Disney World, your annual passes are going to cost you more. The resort in Orlando, Fla., hiked prices on all four levels of its passes on Wednesday.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Liberal party is 'strong and united,' despite efforts from within his caucus to oust him as leader.
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Vancouver Fire Rescue Services received its first shipment of new firefighting gear on Wednesday, advancing the department's plans to reduce cancer risk for its members.
Officials in Hong Kong said Wednesday they have discovered dinosaur fossils in the city for the first time on a remote, uninhabited island that's part of a geopark.
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Starbucks Corp suspended its forecast through the next fiscal year as new CEO Brian Niccol looks to turn around the coffee giant struggling with falling demand for its pricey drinks.
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The Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia's Kootenay National Park has undergone a $29-million makeover.
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Evan Mobley had 25 points and eight rebounds to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 136-106 rout in Toronto's home opener on Wednesday as the Raptors also lost starting point guard Immanuel Quickley.
Former 'Malcolm in the Middle' star Frankie Muniz is set to continue his NASCAR career with a full-time ride in the Truck Series for 2025.
An increased risk of fire has prompted the recall of thousands of Honda hybrid vehicles in Canada.
A senior executive for Volkswagen in China has been deported for allegedly using cocaine and marijuana while on vacation in Thailand, according to Chinese authorities and German media reports.
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Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
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Graduate students looking to become mental-health professionals will have more opportunities to study in the University of Lethbridge鈥檚 Master of Education Counselling Psychology program.
A dazzling light display is making its return to Lethbridge this holiday season.
As part of anniversary celebrations, the City of Lethbridge is inviting the community to see VisitLethbridge.com Arena like they never have before.
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The union representing the fire rangers with the Ministry of Natural Resources says money won鈥檛 fix the systemic problems in the workplace.
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Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland earlier on the weekend.
Police in western Newfoundland say a 77-year-old man visiting the province from Kansas is missing after a fire at a hotel in Deer Lake, N.L.
At 2 p.m. on Thursday, the scene at the Lions Club in Clarenville, N.L., rivalled any rowdy St. John's bar that thumps with music late on a weekend night.
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