Twitter Blue is a premium subscription service offer by Twitter. This service offers a range of exclusive features to its subscribers, such as the ability to edit tweets and the ability to write 4000-character-long tweets in addition to a blue tick right next to the Twitter username.
It comes with a monthly subscription fee of $8, with the prices being adjust accordingly worldwide.
This service is aim at Twitter’s most dedicated users, who are willing to pay for additional functionality and a more enhanced experience on the platform.
Twitter Blue is just one example of how social media platforms are exploring new revenue streams beyond traditional advertising models.
Well, it seems like some organizations do not want to pay the extra monthly fee to be verified on the platform, and the popular news publication New York Times is one of them.
As Twitter announce that they will start removing verification badges, starting from 1st April 2023.
The New York Times with other celebrities and organizations, has refuse to pay for the subscription service.
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, took to the platform to criticize the newspaper, calling their feed
“the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea.”
The subscription service is generating revenue for Twitter, but some are concern about the impact on identifying genuine accounts from impersonators.
The New York Times has also refuse to pay for the verification of its journalists’ Twitter accounts, losing its verification badge as a result.
While 10,000 of the most-follow organizations on Twitter will be exempt from the rules, it is unclear whether all organizations must sign up for the subscription service to remain verified.
The removal of blue ticks is happening gradually and appears to be a manual process since a lot of accounts have to be checked for credibility and status.
Elon Musk Removes Verified Check Mark From New York Times’ Main Account
Twitter has remove the gold “verified” marker from the New York Times’ main account, as CEO Elon Musk bash the news organization as “propaganda” and the platform transitioned to a paid verification scheme.
Elon Musk took over the microblogging platform last year and made a priority of opening the “blue checkmark,” indicating an authentic account, to paying subscribers.
Twitter announce it would start winding down “legacy” blue checkmarks from 1st April 2023.
The New York Times was among news media companies, firms and charities that had already lost their blue tick and were tag as verified business accounts with a gold tick under Elon Musk’s new system.
To retain the gold tick after the rollout of the subscription service dubbed Twitter Blue, these groups would have to pay a monthly fee of $1,000 in the United States, and $50 for each additional affiliated account.
The New York Times said it would not pay for a verified business account and would subscribe for a blue tick only for journalists finding it essential for their reporting needs.
The New York Times’s main account, with nearly 55 million followers, had lost its gold checkmark, though affiliate accounts, such as for its travel and opinion sections, retain the ticks.
Many media groups and personalities who also announce they would not pay for Twitter Blue, including basketball star LeBron James, have retained blue or gold checkmarks on their accounts.
Since Twitter creation in 2009, the blue tick became a signature element that help the platform become a trust forum for newsmakers and campaigners.
But Elon Musk and his fans said the decision of who got the coveted checkmark was made by fiat in a secretive procedure, and they call it a symbol of an unfair class system.
This changes under Elon Musk put pressure on companies, journalists and celebrities who use Twitter as their main channel of communication and relied on the blue and gold ticks for credibility.
They also raise the spectre of imposters and jokesters paying for an officially verified, but totally fake account.
