Taylor Swift, Ryan Reynolds and Ellen DeGeneres are some celebrities who appear to have signed on for Twitter’s subscription service to keep their blue tick verification marks.
On Thursday, Twitter chief Elon Musk finally pulled the plug on the platform’s “legacy” blue checks, originally established to ensure accounts belonged to the people they claimed to be representing.
The SpaceX and Tesla chief had initially indicated the move was set to happen on 1 April, but later told the BBC it would take place on 20 April.
Twitter noted earlier that the blue checkmark will only be available for accounts that pay $8 each month, as part of its Twitter Blue subscription service.
Beginning on Thursday evening, the company formally deleted the blue verification checkmarks given to accounts run by notable people and organisations in an attempt to get more people to sign up for the new subscription service.
An analysis by independent researcher Travis Brown last week, however, suggested only about 4.4 per cent of Twitter’s legacy verified accounts had subscribed to Twitter Blue so far.
“Legacy verification seems to be gone for good... but I have an almost complete recent list of 407.5k legacy verified accounts,” tweeted Mr Brown, who has been tracking Twitter Blue subscriptions since earlier this year.
“Just over a week to Elon’s next deadline and right now of the 406k legacy verified accounts I’m tracking, only 17,923 (4.4 per cent) are subscribed to Twitter Blue,” he said.
The researcher added on Friday that this number didn’t even go above “4.8 per cent.”
These numbers could change over time as more users may sign up for the subscription service.
Celebrities in the music industry, including Swift, Rihanna, Britney Spears and The Weeknd are some of those who seem to have subscribed to Twitter Blue. Their account verification badges are still intact.
Clicking on the blue tick under these profiles says the accounts are verified “because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number”.
Mr Musk also confirmed in a tweet that he is “personally” paying for the accounts of actor William Shatner, author Stephen King and basketball player LeBron James to have their blue tick verification badges.
“I’m paying for a few personally,” the Twitter chief said, adding that it was “just” for “Shatner, LeBron and King.”
Other prominent celebrities who still have their verification badges on display include Snoop Dogg, Cardi B, Joe and Nick Jonas, Shawn Mendes, David Guetta and Chance the Rapper, Mashable first reported.
Hollywood actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman still have their blue ticks.
Social media influencers Jake and Logan Paul as well as Mr Beast, and talk show hosts and comedians DeGenres and Jimmy Fallon’s accounts have also subscribed to Twitter Blue.
Some popular celebrities earlier announced they would not pay for a blue checkmark.
Halle Berry tweeted on Thursday that she was “joining” unverified users on the platform.
Jack Black, who had earlier said he would “call Elon Musk’s bluff” over his Twitter verifcation purge, also lost the blue tick.
Chrissy Teigen, Dionne Warwick and Ben Stiller had also rejected the idea of paying for their verified accounts. They had lost their blue ticks earlier in April.
“No blue check, still feel like me,” Mr Stiller tweeted on Friday.
Asked by a Twitter user if he could pay $8 and “support the platform” he was using, the actor quipped, “I think Elon will be fine.”
Twitter had also removed the blue tick from the main profile of The New York Times after the news organisation said it would not sign up for the subscription service.
Some prominent figures from the UK, including Ricky Gervais, Prince William and Princess Kate have also lost their blue ticks.
This story will be updated to include the verification status of additional celebrities.
