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Some of the biggest celebrities across the entertainment spectrum have criticized Elon Musk's decision to charge for verification on Twitter including Ice-T.
Ahead of the reported deadline for "legacy" verified Twitter accounts, the rapper-actor decided to use his account to speak out about Musk's new process for verifying users on the website. In order to be verified on Twitter, all users must sign up for Twitter Blue and pay $8 a month to keep their blue checkmark. Ice-T, who's been on the social media website since 2009, said he has no plans to pay for the service.
"I heard Twitter is gonna take away the Blue checkmarks if you don't pay," he tweeted. "F**k that checkmark... I guess it matters to some people."
The pioneer gangsta rapper isn't the only celebrity who's complained about the extra charge. LeBron James and Dionne Warwick have also protested against paying for verification. Akon reportedly used his Twitter account to speak out against the changes in the social media website's new verification process. Akon, who's had an account since 2009, sent out a tweet that stressed the necessity for the blue checkmarks to protect fans from imposters. Ironically, he claimed a hacker crafted the critical tweet.
"My account was just hacked," Akon tweeted on Monday, April 3. "This tweet didn’t come from me. Whom ever hacked my account, Please keep your personal opinions away from my profile respectfully."
The Game didn't necessarily call out Musk by name, but he did blast the idea of charging for verification. He recently took to his Instagram Stories to criticize anyone who buys a blue check on any social media website.
"If you bought your verification & I know you personally... delete my #," he wrote. "It tells me everything I need to know about you."
Elon Musk hasn't completely revoked the blue checks from legacy accounts just yet. The change was supposed to go into effect on April 1. Instead, the app has updated the description so that users can't tell the difference between legacy users and Twitter Blue subscribers.