The Controversy Surrounding Twitter's Blue Checkmarks

Elon Musk claims he is paying for the blue checkmarks of three celebrities on Twitter, including William Shatner, LeBron James, and Stephen King, who were able to keep their verification without subscribing to Twitter Blue. Many high-profile Twitter pages lost their verification after refusing to pay for the subscription, which also allows users to write longer tweets and edit them. Twitter began labeling some organizations' Twitter pages with gold checks for official businesses or corporations, gray for government organizations and officials, an affiliation badge for accounts connected to an organization on Twitter, and a badge for state-run media entities and individuals who are part of those entities.