THEY’RE the It Crowd – global stars such as Sir Elton John, Samuel L. Jackson and Adele who post on Twitter.
Then there’s the Twit Crowd — lesser stars including a Love Island winner, a retired cricketer and TV hosts who also use the social media service.
And it is the former who, despite their superior wealth, are refusing to pay to keep Twitter’s coveted blue tick.
The mark was originally free and meant to show that an account was real to prevent devious users impersonating celebs.
But it became seen as a status symbol — and now Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk has demanded that anyone who wants a blue tick must pay £67.72 a year for the honour.
He removed legacy verified accounts yesterday — meaning the only remaining blue ticks belonged to those who had forked out to keep them.
After paying for hers, screenwriter Jemima Khan said: “I’m in the uncool gang.”
Match Of The Day’s Gary Lineker, who also stumped up, replied: “Me too.”
Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen responded after being mocked online, tweeting: “Who cares if you have a blue tick or not?
“How does it positively or negatively affect your day? It really shouldn’t!” Other stars took the loss on the chin by joking about it, with TV favourites Ant and Dec writing on their account: “It’s all ticking off.”
Radio 2 host Rylan Clark added: “Bye bye blue tick. “At least now I can tweet s*** and say it wasn’t the real me.”
Mysteriously, Scottish pop star Lewis Capaldi gained a gold tick — usually reserved for companies and organisations.
Musk, who bought Twitter for just over £35billion last October, appeared to enjoy watching the fallout.
He revealed he had shelled out for three accounts — basketball player LeBron James, author Stephen King and actor William Shatner — to keep their verified status.
Here, we list some of those who kept their tick and those who didn’t, and the number of followers they have.
