Who is paying for Jamal Khashoggi's Twitter blue tick?

ALBAWABA - Social media users were in shock after seeing Twitter's blue tick back on Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's Twitter account as they wondered who paid for its return.

Also ReadTwitter adds blue badges to posthumous profiles

The Washington Post journalist Khashoggi, who died in Turkey in 2018, gained his blue tick again triggering many possibilities whether his family is paying for the Twitter blue tick or was it by Elon Musk.

Some Twitter users said it must be his family who's paying for the blue tick since a note from Twitter was left on his profile saying his mobile number was verified too. However, others said it must be paid by SpaceX CEO Musk.

A person wrote: "It's weird, but one genuinely good thing coming from this is Elon personally is paying for the subscription of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi." Another added: "How can Elon Musk show us his incompetence without telling us about his lack of competence?"

This comes days after Twitter's chief Elon Musk promised to remove Twitter accounts' legacy verification blue ticks last week if people don't pay for the $8 verification. However, numerous high-profile accounts now appear to be re-verified — including a number of dead celebrities. 

Not only Jamal Khashoggi, Twitter accounts of the late American pop singer, Michael Jackson, American basketball player Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020, and American actor Paul Walker, as well as the late U.S. journalist and broadcaster, Barbara Walters, also regained their blue tick.

The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah also took to Twitter to say that he didn't pay for the blue tick subscription. However, his profile regained the blue mark.

He wrote: "Apparently I've paid for Twitter Blue and given them a phone number to verify except that I haven't. Mr Musk are you paying for mine as well?"

According to sources, Twitter restored verification to users with over one million followers.