Twitter Makes More U-Turns Under Musk and Restores Blue Ticks for Celebrities

Twitter made yet under U-turn under the stewardship of Elon Musk after it restored the blue ticks for celebrities after just a couple of days. Musk himself has made several U-turns over the years including on buying Twitter itself.

Twitter ended the old blue tick verifications on April 20 – a date not chosen randomly as it is associated with cannabis (420). Incidentally, Musk also made an offer for Twitter at $54.20 per share which valued the social media giant at around $43 billion.

Twitter has started charging $8 per month if the blue tick verification is taken on the web and Musk sees it as a key revenue driver for the microblogging site.

Things haven’t been all that rosy and reports suggest that only a tiny fraction of people who had the legacy blue ticks opted for the paid verification.

Also, only a tiny fraction of the hitherto “non verified” user base has opted for a paid verification.

Musk made it categorically clear that in order to “democratize” Twitter anybody can now take the blue tick after paying for the service if they met the eligibility conditions – which among others requires a confirmed phone number.

However, over the weekend several celebrities started getting back their blue ticks even if they hadn’t paid for the subscription.

Now it seems that almost all the celebrities have got back their blue tick verifications. In what looks like yet another goof-up from Twitter, even some of the dead celebrities including actor Paul Walker have gotten back their blue ticks.

Twitter Makes Another U-turn and Restores Blue Ticks for Celebrities

What makes things complicated is the fact that Twitter does not distinguish between the accounts that paid for the verification from others that did not and classifies them as “paid for” accounts.

This has left many fuming as they did not intend to buy a Twitter subscription –which the blue tick on their Twitter handle wrongly says they did.

Many are even wondering whether it’s against the law to wrongly classify the accounts as “paid for” while they are actually not.

Even on the accounts of deceased persons with blue ticks, Twitter mentions – “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number” – a description similar to the other verified accounts.

Meanwhile, it is not the only U-turn that Twitter has made in recent days as the company has also done away with the controversial decision to classify media outlets as “state affiliated.”

Musk Has Been a Master of U-Turns

Talking of U-turns, Musk has actually been a master and has reversed many of his decisions over the last couple of years.

Last year, Musk permanently suspended the Twitter accounts that tracked his live location – only to reverse the decision later. He also restored the accounts of many journalists that he suspended.

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, he said that he would stop funding Starlink in Ukraine. However, he soon backtracked and said that the funding would continue.

During Tesla’s Q4 2019 earnings call, Musk categorically stated that Tesla would not raise more capital. Within days, the company announced a stock sale program. It raised $13 billion in three tranches of stock sales in 2020.

On Tesla’s valuation also, Musk has made contradictory statements. In 2020, he tweeted that he finds Tesla stock price too high. As expected, the stock crashed after the tweet. However, soon enough he said that Tesla’s market cap might rise to $1 trillion.

• Read our guide on buying Tesla stock

Now, he’s predicting that Tesla’s market cap can surpass the combined market caps of Apple and Saudi Aramco – something that Cathie Wood of ARK Invest might endorse given her lofty $2,000 target price on TSLA stock.

Incidentally, despite saying that he is done selling Tesla stock, Musk sold more shares last year.

Musk Changed Twitters Logo to a Shiba Inu

Even on dogecoin, he has changed his stance and the self-proclaimed dogefather called it a “hustle” at one point in time. He also did not accept dogecoin as payment for Tesla calls despite a Twitter poll where the majority voted in favor.

The meme cryptocurrency surged after the billionaire recently changed Twitter’s logo from the iconic bird to a Shiba Inu.

• Read our guide on the best meme coins

Earlier this year, he tweeted his dog Floki working as the CEO of Twitter.

He also changed his mind on bitcoins and Tesla sold most of the bitcoins – despite Musk denying the same in 2021.

Musk Backed Out from Buying Twitter

One of the biggest U-turns that Musk made was perhaps on Twitter. He wanted to buy the company even as the Twitter board rejected his proposal. Soon enough, Musk had a change of heart and backed out of the deal.

Twitter sued Musk over backing out of the deal. Amid the legal battle, Musk said that he would buy Twitter at the original terms.

In an interview with BBC, Musk admitted that he bought Twitter as he thought the courts would force him to do so.

All said, Twitter’s chaos has only increased amid the drama over blue ticks as multiple fake accounts have begun impersonating famous personalities and institutions.

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