Brie Larson was astonished to find a blue verification check mark on her Twitter account, unaware that Elon Musk had done an about-face on the company’s celebrity account verification policy.
The Marvel‘s star tweeted her confusion about discovering that her account was verified once again, even though she had not paid for the service.
Some fans suggested that her account was verified because she used an NFT portrait of herself as her profile photo.
Others attributed it to Twitter’s awe of her formidable superpowers.
Was Larson and other Twitter users being trolled by the self-described Chief Twit?
Blue check verifications were previously given to notable Twitter users free of charge to safeguard them and their audience from impersonators. However, when Musk purchased the social media platform, he vowed to turn it into a profitable enterprise by charging money for verification status.
Many celebrities balked at being compelled to pay for a security measure created to prevent fraud. Musk spent months responding to any attempts to discuss the matter with juvenile tweets telling notable users to pay the $8 free.
However, when Musk implemented a freemium business model, the glaring inequalities in his celebrity policy soon came to light. He sponsored blue checks for celebrities he liked, while leaving those out of favor in the cold. Scathing criticism of his hypocrisy prompted Musk to reinstate free verification for notable people, including Larson.
