New Delhi, Apr 21 (IANS): Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, Shah Rukh Khan, Virat Kohli, Priyana Chopra Jonas are some of the popular names among the more than 4 lakh users who on Friday lost their Twitter Blue ticks, even as CEO Elon Musk removed all legacy verified accounts.

This comes months after Musk announced the date to press users to sign up for Twitter Blue, its paid subscription service.

In India, one has to shell out Rs 900 a month (or Rs 9,400 a year) to get Blue Verified status.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and billionaire George Soros are some popular names in the US who lost the legacy Blue ticks.

Other big names included the Pope, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey.

In India, several Bollywood celebrities like Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bhachan; and cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma lost the blue ticks.

The list also includes several politicians like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Musk has also offered complimentary Twitter Blue subscriptions to some celebrities to retain the blue ticks.

"I am paying for a few personally," said Musk. "Just William Shatner, LeBron James and Stephen King," he added.

The blue tick marks were introduced in 2009 to help users identify genuine accounts of celebrities, politicians, companies, news organisations. Twitter did not charge users for verification.