Owners of high-profile Twitter accounts have insisted they will not pay for the blue verified tick marks that have reappeared on their profiles.
Many public figures have distanced themselves from verification on Twitter since the platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk announced that legacy blue ticks would be removed from the site last Thursday leaving only those who had paid for a subscription.
According to many reports the blue tick marks have been reinstated only to accounts with a million followers or more.
Hashtags such as #BlockTheBlueChecks have trended on Twitter in the backlash, while several celebrities have decided to leave the platform.
Yesterday evening, some profiles had their verified status reinstated without payment.
Some celebrities have felt so averse to being verified on Twitter that they made changes to their profiles so their blue ticks would be automatically removed.
It comes as Twitter started the removal of blue ticks on Friday.
Mr Musk, who has seen his $44bn investment in the site shrivel, earlier pledged to get rid of what he described as a "lords and peasants system".
He offered instead to sell the blue badge to anyone who would pay $8 a month, in a move he said last year would "democratise journalism & empower the voice of the people."
