Elon Musk and Stephen King butt heads over Twitter verification
Billionaire Elon Musk has found himself in a Twitter spat with Stephen King just days after paying for the author’s Twitter Blue account.
The fact that not many people have opted to pay to keep the Twitter Blue subscription which has seemingly forced Tesla founder Elon Musk to “personally pay” for certain accounts to keep their verification badges. Musk’s generosity was uncovered after Stephen King announced that he is still a Twitter Blue subscriber despite not paying the new fee.
Responding to Musk’s gesture, Stephen King criticised the billionaire and told him to rather donate his money to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This sparked a swift clapback from Musk who doesn’t appear to appreciate King’s attitude to his “gift”.
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Elon Musk clashes with Stephen King days after gifting him a free Twitter badge
Elon Musk definitely annoyed millions of people after announcing a subscription fee for Twitter Blue which gives users a verification badge, the ability to edit their tweets, and “elevates quality conversations on Twitter”.
On Wednesday last week, those who were previously honoured with the verification badges for simply being influential and prominent figures in society were stripped of the privilege as Musk now expects them to pay for it.
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The billionaire’s plan to make more money from Twitter has seemingly failed as most people slammed the idea of paying to be verified.
Noticing that many notable Twitter users opted not to pay the $8 (R200) subscription fee to stay verified, Musk decided to “personally pay” for certain accounts.
His decision came to light after American author Stephen King tweeted that his verification badge remained despite not paying the fee.
“My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t,’ the author of the Shining tweeted Saturday, tagging Musk.
King then went on to tell Musk to donate the $8 dollars to Ukraine instead.
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A very unhappy billionaire
King’s advice did not sit well with the outspoken billionaire who was very clearly offended.
Responding to King, Musk wrote that he actually donated $100M to Ukraine, he then went on to ask King exactly how much he donated.
He also shared a six-month-old tweet from former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov thanking Musk for the millions he funneled into the nation’s war effort.
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