The day after Twitter began removing verified check marks on accounts that wouldn’t pay for the platform’s new subscription service, Twitter Blue, many accounts are still verified – except the New York Times.
An announcement was made on March 23 that Twitter would set a deadline of April 1 for verified users to apply for the subscriptions to maintain their status. Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced early Sunday that the Times would lose its check mark.
The announcement was in response to a Twitter user who tweeted “New York Times says It Won’t Pay For Twitter Verification,” accompanied by a laughing emoji and a meme featuring the Times logo and Musk saying “See, no one cares!”.
Musk responded shortly after, “Oh, ok, we’ll take it off then.”
“The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting,” Musk tweeted. He added that the newspaper’s feed is “the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea” and “unreadable.”
A spokesperson from the Times said the company doesn’t plan to pay the monthly fee to maintain the verified status on any of their institutional Twitter accounts and will not reimburse reporters who choose to keep check marks on their personal accounts.
Other accounts affiliated with the Times include New York Times World, NYT Science, and New York Times Opinion, and have maintained a verified status.
Twitter checkmarks, which have been free thus far, now cost $8 a month for individuals. Organizations including businesses, non-profit groups, and government institutions need to pay $1,000 a month to maintain a verified status.
A benefit for those who pay for Twitter Blue will show up higher in replies and appear in Twitter’s “For You” feed, which recommends tweets for users.
Musk has said the subscription is a way to boost revenue and fend off trolls and bots. Unfortunately, this has worsened the spread of disinformation and impersonation.
Twitter Blue doesn’t require accounts to be notable or verified through formal identification like before; criteria now include being nondeceptive, active, and older than 30 days.
When asked why he bought Twitter, Musk said he wanted to provide a platform “where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”
Musk has bashed the New York Times before as fake news and propaganda. In a response to a Twitter user who asked, “What are your favorite news sources at the moment?” Musk replied: “This.”
The New York Times is the 19th most-followed account on Twitter, according to the social media analytics tool SocialTracker with 54.9 million followers.
