Twitter has stripped blue ticks from thousands of celebrities, journalists and organisations, removing the verification marks from public figures including JK Rowling and the Pope.

Elon Musk had been threatening to remove the blue check mark from accounts that failed to pay £8 per month for a new subscription on the social network.

Mr Musk's social network followed through with the policy on Thursday, axing the label for all those who did not pay for Twitter Blue.

Among those losing their blue tick badges were US President Donald Trump, Beyoncé, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and reality TV star Kim Kardashian.

The chaotic rollout has also seen disclaimers that label certain media groups as “state affiliated” removed. 

The move means the BBC has lost a label previously explaining it was “publicly funded” while state-owned newspapers such as the China Daily also lost disclaimers.

However, the billionaire said he had agreed to personally pay for a handful of accounts to keep their blue ticks, including basketball star LeBron James, Star Trek actor William Shatner and author Stephen King.

Mr Musk Tweeted: “I'm paying for a few personally.”

Under the new system, any user can be verified by opting for a paid-for version of the app.

Mr Musk, who bought Twitter last October, has insisted that the old verification regime was unfair and failed to stop spam or impersonation accounts.

However, there are concerns the measure will enable widespread impersonation or copycat accounts and could contribute to the spread of misinformation.

Mr Musk has made encouraging people to pay for Twitter a key part of his business strategy since his $44bn takeover of the social network last year.

However, so far only around 5pc of legacy verified accounts have signed up for the new paid Twitter Blue service, according to researcher Travis Brown.