Musk's Twitter Beef With Stephen King Spills Over To Putin's War

Stephen King and Twitter chief Elon Musk engaged in a war of words after the social media giant recently took down blue check marks for legacy verified celebrities.

What Happened: The social media tiff between Musk and King, which took the internet by storm, eventually led to the topic of the ongoing Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, with the tech mogul claiming that he has donated about $100 million to the war-torn nation.

It all started when King took to Twitter to say that his verification tick remained intact despite not paying the Twitter Blue subscription. "My Twitter account says I've subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven't. My Twitter account says I've given a phone number. I haven't."

The exchange of words escalated quickly, followed by tweets and counter-tweets that went viral.

In one of his tweets, the American author suggested that the billionaire should donate his blue checkmark to charity, recommending Ukraine's Prytula Foundation, which provides lifesaving services.

He suggested that the new social media giant's CEO could donate more than the standard $8 monthly fee for the Twitter Blue subscription.

Musk hit back, quoting a tweet from Former Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov praising SpaceX’s contribution to Ukraine. Musk said his company had donated $100M to the country and turned down U.S. Defense Department money in the process.

Meanwhile, Twitter is restoring blue ticks to some accounts, according to media reports. The criteria appear to be that a user needs to have more than a million followers to get the verified label.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Benzinga

Benzinga

Elon Musk's Feud With Stephen King Over Twitter Blue Checks Extends To Putin's War: 'How Much Have You Donated?'