Elon Musk Hands Out Free Badges as Twitter Priority Kicks In

Chief Twit grants Twitter Blue checks to a couple of dissatisfied celebrities, but payment in DOGE is not an option.

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Twitter will prioritize verified badge holders over regular users.
Lakers superstar LeBron James refused to pay for Twitter Blue.
Musk grants Twitter verification badges to LeBron and Stephen King.
Dogecoin drops below key resistance as on-chain signals turn bearish.

Verification badges from now on will prioritize Twitter users with them over regular members. This way, the algorithm puts the paid subscription users’ comments above everyone else. Twitter is divided into two camps over the move, including fiery protests from Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and best-selling author Stephen King.

Celebrities Lash Out at Musk Over Twitter Blue

The extravagant billionaire also recently had a squabble with the best-selling author Stephen King, who called out Tesla, SpaceX, and Musk on allegedly being slow with donations to Ukraine.

Elon responded with a calculation of $100 million, plus the Starlink satellite which helps Ukrainian forces defend themselves against Russian missiles. While Musk agreed to pay for King’s Twitter Blue subscription, the famous writer fired back with “I think Mr. Musk should give my blue check to charity.”

On top of that, Mr. Musk’s new rules received immense backlash from the Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. The all-time NBA leading scorer simply refused to pay for a subscription to stay verified. Likely as a reward for taking the Lakers through a bumpy road in the NBA playoffs to lead the Grizzlies 3-1, Musk granted King James the $8 subscription.

Dogecoin Slides Below Key Resistance

The developments of Twitter Blue didn’t reflect Dogecoin’s market price, as DOGE is not included as a payment method for subscriptions. Instead, the popular Japanese guard dog-themed memecurrency is commonly used for tipping, which can be done on any website via the Tipping Jar web extension.

At press time, the top dog is changing hands at $0.0788, according to CoinGecko. The price movement on the charts suggest a bearish trend, with a two-week low recorded today at $0.077877. As if that wasn’t enough, the on-chain signals favor the bears with a 1.35 decrease in large transactions and 0.16 in net network growth. Finally, the crypto analytics tool IntoTheBlock measures a 4.25 decline in current DOGE holders making a profit.

On the Flipside

Many users report a rise in crypto scams on Crypto Twitter, especially phishing attacks.
These victimized accounts carry the Twitter Blue verified badges acquired by paying $8.