LeBron James and several other celebrities still have verified blue verification badges on Twitter. The option remains available to them even though they do not pay for it, writes The Verge.

Twitter began removing blue badges en masse from old verified accounts, which was one of Elon Musk’s long-standing plans. Such a system existed for more than 10 years. Historically, it was supposed to ensure that famous people and organizations actually maintain accounts on the social network. However, the billionaire repeatedly criticized this verification, calling it “corrupt”.

It has been known since at least April 11 that April 20 will be the last day to remove the outdated blue badges. Although it was not clear for certain whether Twitter would actually go ahead with this move. Changes in verification have already been noticed by representatives of some mass media, on whose pages the verification logos disappear from time to time and appear after updating the page.

However, LeBron James, who is considered almost the biggest hater of the paid verification system, has the blue badge. If you hover over the icon, it says “this account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

Stephen King faced a similar situation. He also claimed that he did not subscribe to Twitter Blue and did not provide the company with his phone number. In the end, Elon Musk said that he personally pays for several subscriptions, including a prominent American writer.

We will remind that Elon Musk threatens a lawsuit to Microsoft companies. According to Musk, Microsoft mined Twitter data to train its own AI-based programs. So now he will demand compensation.