- K-Pop supergroup BTS — like hundreds of other celebrities — lost its blue checkmark on Twitter.
- At press time, the band had not paid to restore its blue checkmark under Elon Musk's Twitter Blue.
K-Pop supergroup BTS hasn't paid the $8 subscription fee to restore its blue checkmark on Twitter, making it one of the biggest pop culture figures to eschew Elon Musk's payment plan.
The seven-member boyband lost the blue check mark on its personal account on April 20, joining thousands of other celebrities in the unverified wilderness of Musk's Twitter. With more than 48.3 million followers on Twitter, the band has one of the most-followed celebrity accounts on the platform.
It's a different story on the band's official account and that of its management agency, Hybe, both of which are designated as Twitter Blue subscribers.
On Thursday, Musk tweeted that he's personally funding some celebrities' Twitter Blue statuses — but did not specifically say whose subscriptions he's paying for. It's unclear who's paying for the Twitter Blue subscriptions on Hybe's and BTS' official accounts.
Representatives for BTS at Hybe did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Twitter's press team responded to Insider's request for comment with a standardized, automated message.
Other K-Pop groups have also refused to give Musk $8 for Twitter Blue. Blackpink, the four-member powerhouse girl group under YG Entertainment, and Twice, a girl group under JYP Entertainment, both did not have blue checkmarks on their personal accounts at press time.
The same goes for some of South Korea's biggest names. Actor Park Bo Gum, a staple at Celine's high fashion events, and the rapper G-Dragon, the late Karl Lagerfeld's one-time muse and the leader of the 2010s mega-boyband BIGBANG, both do not have blue checkmarks on their Twitter accounts.
In the West, some major musicians do appear to be Twitter Blue subscribers. At press time, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd, and Shawn Mendes were all designated as Twitter Blue subscribers.