Twitter starts restoring checks of prominent users

Twitter has started restoring the blue checks verifying accounts of prominent users with more than one million followers. The social media platform last week started stripping Twitter Blue status, designed to indicate the users were who they said they were, from people who didn't pay a new subscription fee. Twitter provided the blue check for free before Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the company last year. Twitter also verified the accounts. Musk introduced the fee of $8 per month for individuals. Broadcaster James O'Brien, who has 1.1 million followers, said his blue check had been restored but he hadn't paid. He said some users with fewer than one million followers got their status back, "anointed entirely at Elon Musk's discretion."