A rundown of the weekend’s Twitter Blue Checkmarks chaos

In a dramatic U-turn that caused all sorts of chaos on the platform, Twitter has been handing out Blue checkmarks to anyone considered a celebrity by broad standards.

Last week, Elon Musk removed checkmarks from celebrities, telling them that if they wanted them, they were going to have to pay for it.

That was quickly U-turned when it became apparent that very few celebrities cared enough to subscribe and at the very least, liked a chance to tell Musk what he could do with his blue checkmark.

So, in order to avoid the argument that no one needs his subscription, Musk has been assigning Blue checkmarks to any social media with a vaguely recognisable name.

The problem is that verified accounts have a blurb that says: “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

Only, they didn’t. Celebrities are tweeting that they did no such thing, not willing to be a part of the conversation, and leading to accusations levied at Elon Musk of false endorsement.

But more than that, names like Terry Pratchett and Kobe Bryant have their blue checkmark too. You might notice they have one thing in common beyond being famous faces with a Blue checkmark: they are both no longer with us, therefore are in no way subscribed to Twitter Blue.