Akon and The Game both had a lot to say about Elon Musk’s new Twitter blue check verification policies — and none of it is good.
The African mogul took to Twitter on Saturday (April 1) to slam the Tesla co-founder, recalling a time when the social media giant was just a startup company looking for celebrity engagement to earn its cache.
“They came up with a verification process to protect accounts from fakes ones, now @elonmusk is taking that away and forcing us to pay,” he wrote in a now-deleted tweet, according to TMZ.
“FYI, I ain’t paying shit for something we helped build.”
The Game, too, had plenty of thoughts about the new Twitter Blue service, in which users have the option to purchase a once-coveted “blue check” for $8/month.
But the L.A.-based rapper didn’t direct any venom Musk’s way.
Rather, he took to his Instagram stories on Monday (April 1) to slam people who bought their blue check.
“If you bought your verification and I know you personally, delete my number,” he wrote, according to TMZ. “It tells me everything I need to know about you. You a broke cheater — we are not the same.”
Elon Musk’s ability to run Twitter has been the source of much speculation since he bought the popular social media platform in October 2022 — with more than a little financial help from Diddy, no less.
But one rapper who isn’t a fan of the South African billionaire is Soulja Boy, who slammed Musk’s Twitter policies back in November 2022.
On November 11, the “Pretty Boy Swag” rapper didn’t hold back his criticism of the Tesla executive’s $44 billion takeover of the social media app in a series of tweets he shared expressing his frustrations with his five million followers.
In addition to tweeting directly at Elon Musk, Soulja Boy started his rant off by trashing the new Twitter Blue paid verification subscription option.
“Now u can just pay to be verified? Twitter has been destroyed,” Soulja Boy said in the first tweet before following up, “Bro leave Twitter alone @elonmusk wtf are you doing.”
Soulja Boy eventually threatened to leave the app altogether in addition to developing and launching a social media application of his own in the process.
“Wow… I can’t believe this. Fuck it I’m going to create my own app,” Soulja Boy said. “Bye Twitter [Peace sign finger emoji] catch me on Instagram until my app launches.”
lol nothing sadder than celebrity has beens clamoring for their last sense of fame. Imagine being 40+ years old concerned about a symbol on a social media website! Sheesh
Gayme: you ain’t verifiedth becauth you ain’t been in da ‘trencheth’
They dont like when they dont get special treatment for being famous. Treat them like regular people they go crazy. Shout out to Elon.
Preach bruh, that’s so true.
It seems like such a weird thing to complain about. The blue check is mostly wealthy celebrities. There are only 220,132 verified accounts. I’d bet almost all of them can afford the $8 per month. 220,132 x $8 x 12 months = 21M in annual profit. I don’t like Musk, but if his platform devalued 22 billion in a few months, he’s running out of options to keep the lights on.
Not really running outta options. It cost very little to keep up and running. And he’s also… the richest man on earth, in paper at least. I don’t think Elon bought twitter to build up more money, more so to impact global convoy.
The fact that this bothers them shows you the state of clout chasing in america today. Would these guys care about this if they had anything else going on? A gangsta rapper worried that someone can pay 8 bucks a month to get verified on twitter. Smh.
The Lame is just mad that he can’t afford the checkmark. lol what a loser
Okay? Theb don’t use Twitter. Cry more about paying a monthly subscription. Everyone who said they’d quit Twitter… winter quit Twitter lmao.