After the new Twitter authentication system aroused discontent among users around the world when it was implemented a few days ago, the situation seemed more complicated on Saturday, with the return of the famous blue signs to the accounts of some media outlets or personalities, even without the consent of their owners.

American rapper Lil Nas X tweeted, "I swear I didn't pay to subscribe to Twitter Blue, you'll feel my wrath, Tesla man" (referring to Elon Musk, who also owns the company that specializes in electric cars).

And after it was previously free and a guarantee of the authenticity of the accounts and the fame of their owners, the blue mark now means that the user is subscribed to “Twitter Blue” (for $ 8 per month), and that his phone number has been verified by the platform.

On Thursday, accounts with the old blue badge lost that mark for users who had not paid for the new service, following the strategy laid out by Elon Musk over the winter to verify accounts and generate additional revenue.

But a tiny fraction of those with old blue ticks, less than 5 percent of the 407,000 accounts involved, subscribed to Twitter Blue, according to researcher Travis Brown.

Over Friday and Saturday, more and more people found the blue tick attached to their accounts, seemingly without any action on their part, such as writer Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James, or former President Donald Trump.

"No means no, guys," tweeted technology journalist Kara Swisher, explaining that her account had been subjected to "forced verification" without her "consent."

An hour after announcing that she would not pay "eight dollars a month for a blue tick and crap," Swisher added, "People need to know: Does Elon like me for who I am or for my 1.49 million followers?"

Many users whose accounts were documented against their will were keen to confirm that they had nothing to do with the matter, after the controversial sign became a symbol of support for Elon Musk.

"Please note that I have not signed up for Twitter Blue, although for some mysterious reason the blue tick has reappeared (on my account)," said author Rick Wilson.

And the progressive Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman, who poked fun at Elon Musk's "out of control impulsiveness" last July, wrote Saturday, "I have nothing to do with it and I'm certainly not paying."

The head of Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX responded with a photo showing a child smeared with tomato ketchup, crying in front of a plate of pasta and wearing a bib with a blue authentication tag.

Musk had indicated on Friday that he had "self-paid for some of the subscriptions."

And accounts of deceased people, such as the famous American chef Anthony Bourdain, got the new blue badge.
The mark also appeared on several official media accounts, including even the New York Times, which lost its notarization mark in early April after Elon Musk described the information it published as "propaganda."

The accounts of some major news organizations feature a gold badge designated for "verified organizations" that pay at least $1,000 per month.

But American Public Broadcasting Corporation (NPR) and Canadian public media group CBC-Radio Canada had not yet resumed their tweets as of Saturday.

These two media organizations recently suspended their activities on Twitter in protest of the labels attached to their accounts by the network, which classified them as "government-funded media" or "state-affiliated", terms previously reserved for non-independent government-funded media.

On Friday, the Elon Musk-owned platform removed these tags, even from accounts of the official Chinese agency Xinhua (New China) or Russia's RT.

"Was the real purpose of all this fuss about (American Public Radio) NPR to help China and Russia?" Kara Swisher asked Saturday. for these systems.

AFP did not contact Twitter, after the network's official response to the media became limited to an automatic message bearing an emoji in the form of a pile of excrement.