Akon called out Elon Musk on Monday afternoon, becoming one of the many voices that seems to pushing back at the concept of having to pay for a verified account. Only, the tweet apparently didn’t come from the real Akon. The artist followed the original tweet up with another message saying that he actually did not share those views. Akon revealed he had been hacked.

By now you probably know, Elon Musk has announced that all Twitter users will need to pay for Twitter Blue moving forward in order to get a verified check badge. The announcement revealed that all legacy verified Twitter check marks would be phased out by April 15th unless the person or company paid for Twitter Blue. Starting April 1st though, accounts began losing their check marks if they made it clear that they would not be paying. Companies actually have to fork up much more for their check marks, costing about $1,000 monthly for the verification! The New York Times was one of the first companies to lose their legacy check mark after they revealed that they would not be paying for the verification.

The original tweet where Akon called out Elon Musk, seemed to be a stance expected to be taken from many celebrities.

“Back in the day, Twitter was begging musicians to stay on cause they didn’t have traffic,” the tweet read. “They came up with a verification process to protect accounts from fake ones, now @elonmusk is taking that away and forcing us to pay- FYI, I ain’t paying shit for something we helped build.”

The tweet was deleted a short time later though, but the Akon account shared it as a picture with an explanation.

My account was just hacked. This tweet didn’t come from me. Whom ever hacked my account, Please keep your personal opinions away from my profile respectfully.
🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/XvGgqbz5iY

— AKON (@Akon) April 4, 2023

My account was just hacked. This tweet didn’t come from me. Whom ever hacked my account, Please keep your personal opinions away from my profile respectfully.
🙏🏾

Akon has 6.1 million followers on Twitter. As of now his blue check mark is still there. Guess he’ll be paying for it after April 15th.

Image Credit: Kevin Benoit

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