Free blue checks are back for some accounts on Elon Musk's X. Not everyone is happy about it

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk's X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has begun restoring complimentary blue checks for some of its users, the latest unexpected shift to cause a lot of confusion on the platform.

For years, Twitter’s blue checks mirrored verification badges that are common on social media, largely reserved for celebrities, politicians and other influential accounts. That changed months after Musk bought the platform for $44 billion in October 2022.

Last year, X began issuing verification checks only to those who paid the starting price of $8 per month for it, and stripping verification badges from many celebrities and other prominent accounts. That also led to confusion, complaints, and a large number of fake accounts pretending to be someone else, blue check included.

But late Wednesday night and early Thursday, numerous users reported seeing the blue checks return to their accounts, or appear for the first time, despite the fact that they were not paying for “premium” services on X.

Musk said last week that all X accounts with more than 2,500 verified subscriber followers would get Premium features — which includes a checkmark — for free going forward, and that accounts with over 5,000 would get Premium+ for free.

Specific reasoning behind this new policy was not clear. X did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment Thursday.

Reactions were mixed. While a handful of users were excited about the verification, others were frustrated.

“What happened? I didn’t pay for this. I would NEVER pay for this,” actress Yvette Nicole Brown, who appeared to be among the prominent...