Elon Musk 'personally' paying for LeBron James and Stephen King's Twitter Blue subscriptions

Elon Musk has revealed he is "personally" paying for celebrities such as LeBron James and Stephen King to keep their blue verified ticks on Twitter.

On Thursday, the Twitter CEO removed all blue verified ticks from accounts that had not signed up for his Twitter Blue paid subscription service. However, some celebrities kept the blue tick despite not paying for Twitter Blue themselves.

"My Twitter account says I've subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven't," IT author King tweeted on Thursday, noting his earlier assertion that he would not pay to keep his verified checkmark. "My Twitter account says I've given a phone number. I haven't."

Musk replied, "You're welcome namaste," seemingly indicating that he paid for King's checkmark himself.

Editors at The Verge also confirmed that a Twitter employee emailed basketball star James to "extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue for your account, @kingjames, on behalf of Elon Musk", after the sportsman insisted he would not purchase Twitter Blue himself. The athlete's longtime media advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, confirmed that James had not paid to keep the blue tick.

After The Verge's article was shared on Twitter, Musk confirmed, "I'm paying for a few (accounts) personally."

He later clarified that he was only paying for subscriptions for James, King and Star Trek legend William Shatner.

The verified blue tick system on Twitter was originally used to distinguish genuine notable account holders, such as celebrities and organisations, from impostors or parodies. Musk decided to remove that feature when he acquired the site last year, instead requiring users to pay for the checkmark.

A number of celebrities reacted to losing their blue tick on Thursday, with Ben Stiller writing, "No blue check, still feel like me." Musk replied with a laughing emoji.