As I mentioned in my recent post regarding Twitter's blue checkmarks, the situation is getting even more messy now that Twitter seems to be reinstating the checkmarks for some popular accounts.
TechCrunch - Twitter reinstates Blue verification mark for top accounts — even if they didn’t pay for it:
After removing thousands of legacy verification checkmarks on April 20, Twitter is restoring the Blue tick marks for large accounts — even if they didn’t pay for subscriptionsOver the weekend, multiple top accounts (with more than 1 million followers) got their verification marks back. However, many of them, including writer Neil Gaiman, footballer Riyad Mahrez, musician Lil Nas X, actress Janel Parrish Long and British TV presenter Richard Osman said that they didn’t pay for the blue badge.
Wasn't the idea that Twitter Blue democratizes the blue checkmark/verified status?