Elon Musk says he’s paying for LeBron James's Twitter checkmark

Tech billionaire and Twitter proprietor Elon Musk has prompted controversy by overhauling the positioning’s famend verification coverage for celebrities and different notable figures. These embody Los Angeles Lakers celebrity LeBron James, who made positive to announce he would by no means pay a subscription charge to Musk’s Twitter Blue service with the intention to stay verified.

Nevertheless, on Thursday, Musk revealed in a reply that he’s “personally paying” for a few choice celebrities to stay verified via Twitter’s well-known blue checkmark. James seems to have made the minimize.

What’s Twitter’s new coverage?

Earlier this yr, Twitter introduced it could be winding down its “legacy” verified program. The social media platform has been shedding cash, particularly for the reason that provocative Musk bought it for $44 billion in 2022.

To ensure that accounts with blue checkmarks to retain their authenticity, Musk has requested that they pay a month-to-month charge to hitch the opt-in Twitter Blue service for $8 a month.

The coverage has been met with derision with Twitter energy customers. Some information retailers, similar to Nationwide Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Company, have left Twitter in protest of Musk’s modifications.

How will this have an effect on James?

James and the Lakers are probably centered utterly on their playoff collection with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The seventh-seeded Lakers gained Recreation 1 of the collection in Memphis, beating the second-seeded Grizzlies 128-112. However the Grizzlies, with out injured star Ja Morant, took Recreation 2 by a 103-93 rating to even the collection at a recreation apiece.

James scored a game-high 28 factors and hauled in a team-best 12 rebounds within the defeat.