LeBron James isn’t playing ball with Twitter’s new paid verification system.
On Friday, the NBA’s all-time top scorer revealed he won’t pay $8 a month for a blue checkmark that verifies his identity next to his name.
“Welp guess my blue check will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5,” wrote the Los Angeles Lakers star.
Blue check marks used to be available to some individuals for free as part of the social media platform’s efforts to combat impersonators and misinformation.
But Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk last month announced the checks for individual people would vanish from previously verified accounts on Apr. 1, Saturday.
James’ tweet went viral, prompting some users to suggest the growing backlash to the paid system could see Musk nix it and declare it was an April Fool’s gag all along.
“Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander this week vowed to quit the platform once his checkmark goes, writing “without it, anyone can allege to be me. So, if I lose that check know I will leave this platform. Anyone appearing with it = an imposter. I tell you this while I’m still official.”
Monica Lewinsky, meanwhile, asked: “What universe is this fair to people who can suffer consequences for being impersonated? a lie travels half way around the world before truth even gets out the door.”
Axios reported Friday that President Joe Biden’s White House will not pay for staffers’ accounts to be verified, joining news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Politico.
