The New York Times’ main profile’s blue “confirmed” tick has been removed by Twitter after the news organisation declared it would not participate in Elon Musk’s new programme of for-profit verification.
When the blue tick was removed from the outlet’s Twitter profile on Sunday and not replaced with the gold tick that Twitter has been using for “official organisations,” it was clear that it no longer had any sort of verification symbol.
The modifications made by Mr. Musk to Twitter’s verification system have drawn criticism for making it easier for imposters to propagate false information there.
According to a spokesman quoted by CNN reporter Oliver Darcy earlier this week, “We aren’t going to pay the monthly charge for verification of our institutional Twitter accounts,” the NYT will not be paying for verification.
Except in extremely rare circumstances where verified status would be crucial for reporting purposes, the representative continued, “We also will not reimburse reporters for the verification of personal accounts.”
From April 1, Twitter stated it would begin eliminating their “legacy” verification ticks.
According to Twitter’s new policies, businesses can apply for a new “gold” tick, but individuals must purchase a Twitter Blue subscription, which costs £11 per month and gives users access to a number of new tools, including the ability to edit posts, longer tweets, and higher weighting in the prioritisation algorithm.
Lebron James and other celebrities have publicly stated that they will not be paying for blue tick services, as have other media like The Los Angeles Times and public bodies like the White House.
Three years after the introduction of the website, in 2009, the social media platform’s verification, shown by a blue checkmark next to the user’s handle, was introduced.
Verification was supposed to be able to establish a user’s identity.
Ben Stiller, Chrissy Teigen, Dionne Warwick, and other well-known people have also reportedly opted against paying for their verified accounts.
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