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Turns out business mogul Elon Musk wasn't playing. Less than a week after he declared Twitter's new policy for the 3rd time one of the USA's leading media houses New York Times has just lost its blue Twitter Verification badge.
Reports have emerged that Twitter has removed the “verified” blue tick from the main profile of The New York Times after the news organization said it would not sign up for the new Twitter Blue scheme which requires verified users to pay a monthly fee for their verification.
The outlet's Twitter profile as of today revealed that it no longer boasted any sort of badge of verification, with the blue tick gone and not being replaced with the gold tick that Twitter had announced it would be used for "official organizations."
Petty much, but I wouldn't put the move past Elon. Remember he deactivated Kanye's account after the rapper made fun of him?
The media outlet has also noted that it would not carter for its employee's badges and if anyone wanted to pay for a Twitter Blue subscription they'd do it out of their own pockets.
However, they noted that they'd consider some high-profile journalists who genuinely need the badges for reporting purposes.
“We also will not reimburse reporters for the verification of personal accounts,” New York Times spokesperson said before adding, “except in rare instances where the verified status would be essential for reporting purposes.”
Under Twitter’s new rules, organisations can apply for a new “gold” tick, while individuals must pay for a Twitter Blue subscription, costing £11 a month for a selection of new tools – longer tweets, the ability to edit posts, higher weighting in the prioritisation algorithm, and one of those blue checks.
I wonder if Lebron James will also have his snatched away as just yesterday the NBA star said he would not be paying for the badge as he doesn't think the money is worth it.
Lebron through his Twitter page admitted that even though he is a billionaire Twitter CEO Elon Musk can't get him to cough up $8 a month to keep his Twitter verification.
That's just Sh. 1060 but LeBron feels it is not worth it as it translates to nearly $100 a year just to have the blue tick by your account name. That is close to Sh. 14k gone just like that.
"Welp guess my blue ✔ will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain't paying the 5," LeBron tweeted on Friday evening.
Minus Lebron and NYT other publications such as The Los Angeles Times, as well as public bodies like the White House have also publicly announced they'll not pay for blue tick services.
5 months ago Twitter CEO Elon Musk had announced major changes to his social media platform. He stated that come April 1st 2023 any "legacy" account that wanted to keep its blue verification badge would have to pay a monthly fee with a few exceptions to major companies.
As part of changes after a $44bn (£38bn) takeover of the social media site, Mr Musk said it was "essential to defeat spam/scam".
The Twitter CEO, added that paid users would have priority in replies and searches, and half as many advertisements. A blue tick mark next to a username - normally for high-profile figures - is currently free.
"Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," the billionaire said on Twitter, criticising the old method of blue tick verification as a "lords and peasants system".
Once enforced, the company announced it would give verified users 90 days to subscribe to the new plan or risk losing the blue tick next to their Twitter handles.
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