Elon Musk pays for Stephen King and LeBron James to keep Twitter blue ticks

Elon Musk has admitted he is paying for some prominent Twitter accounts to retain their blue ticks, as the social media platform launched a cull that stripped verified status from many famous names including Beyoncé, Ronaldo and Paul McCartney.

On Thursday Musk pushed ahead with a long-threatened promise to strip the blue tick from about 400,000 legacy verified accounts unless they signed up to Blue, which costs upwards of $8 a month in the US, £9.60 in the UK and A$13 in Australia.

However, some official sites such as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services account did not have a grey tick as of Friday morning.

Perks for Twitter Blue subscribers include the ability to edit tweets, write longer posts and see fewer adverts.