Twitter is rolling out its new gray checkmarks for 'official' accounts, including famous athletes, politicians like AOC, and news outlets

• Twitter is rolling out a new gray checkmark designating "official" accounts.
• A number of public figures had the new gray tag Wednesday morning, but it quickly disappeared.

Elon Musk's Twitter began rolling out a new way to designate "official" accounts of celebrities, elected officials, and news outlets this week.

A gray tag, with a checkmark and the word "Official" appeared under the names of a number of public figures and institutions. Their original blue checkmarks, that designated them as verified users, still appeared.

By Wednesday morning, the accounts with the new gray tag included media outlets like Insider, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and CNN; the NBC players Kyrie Irving and LeBron James; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has caught Musk's ire on Twitter in the days since he bought the site for $44 billion weeks ago.

Musk himself, though, did not have one by Wednesday afternoon.

Later on Wednesday, though, some accounts that had received the tag began to lose them. Musk tweeted that he "killed" the feature, but Twitter product manager Esther Crawford clarified "we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with."

"What you saw him mention was the fact that we're not focusing on giving individuals the 'Official' label right now," Crawford said.

Musk intends to remodel the Twitter Blue subscription, and charge users $7.99 per month for the traditional blue Twitter checkmark and other features.

In other words, the gray checkmark would designate the verified account of a public figure. A blue check will mean the user simply signed up for the new Twitter Blue. The blue checkmark has typically been associated with verified accounts of public figures and government institutions.

It's unclear if the new Twitter Blue has officially launched, but Twitter has previously said it plans to roll out the overhaul after the midterm elections.

Critics of the upcoming change to verification argue the move could make it easier for people to impersonate public figures, potentially leading to a spread of misinformation.