Twitter removed the “verified” badge from the main New York Times account on Sunday, a move owner Elon Musk pushed after learning the news organization would not pay for its “Twitter Blue” service.
The move contradicts an internal plan, first reported by the Times last Thursday, to keep the badges of the 10,000 most followed organizations, regardless of whether or not they paid.
It should be remembered that Twitter Blueis a paid monthly subscription that adds a blue checkmark to your Twitter account and offers early access to new features like the ability to edit Tweets.
Until now, Twitter used the blue check mark to indicate active, notable, and bona fide accounts of public interest that Twitter had independently verified based on certain requirements.
Now the blue check mark can mean two different things:
- The account has been verified against the above verification criteria (active, notable, and authentic)
- The account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue.
It should be recalled that Twitter had said it would start winding down its traditional verification program starting Saturday, removing the blue checkmark icons it had applied for years to the accounts of verified companies, journalists and public figures.
Instead, Twitter is rolling out a payment system that would award the badge to anyone who pays for it, money the company needs to offset falling advertising revenue and billions of dollars in debt.
Twitter Blue will cost users around $8 per month, while businesses that want verification will be charged $1,000 per month.
On Sunday morning, the Times, the 24th most followed account on Twitter, with more than 54 million followers, was one of a few dozen accounts to have the badge removed, according to data compiled by Travis Brown, a software developer who has been following the changes, The Washington Post reported.
The move appears to have been personally led or encouraged by Musk, who responded on Saturday night to a meme describing the Times’ decision not to pay for Twitter verification by saying, “Oh, okay, we’ll take it down then.”
The Times, The Washington Post and other news organizations reported Thursday that they would not pay for verification of their news organizations or journalists, though the Times said there could be some rare exceptions where the mark could “be essential for news purposes.” ”.
On Sunday, Twitter also changed the text that appears when you click the badge to say that an account is “verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”
Keep reading:
Elon Musk confirms new change on Twitter that will only benefit subscribers
· Elon Musk is selling even the pots of Twitter to generate money
· Twitter continues to cut heads, even the people who stayed to sleep in the company to meet deadlines