New York Times refuses to pay for the verified checkmark on Twitter
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Twitter recently announced that it would begin winding down its legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. This means that a number of accounts have lost the checkmark on April 1st. However, the social media platform has allowed users to sign up for Twitter Blue if they wish to keep their blue checkmark.
On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp
Organizations can sign up for https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3…
— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023
However, some have refused to pay a monthly fee to keep their checkmark. The New York Times has actually made headlines by announcing through its spokesperson that it will not pay a monthly fee to have a verified checkmark status on the website. The announcement was made only hours after the NYT lost its verified badge on Twitter.
Major entities are refusing to pay
The new Twitter policy will see verified checkmarks offered only through a premium subscription. Individuals can get their blue checkmark with a starting price of $7 in the US, while organizations can obtain a gold checkmark for $1,000 per month. Apart from refusing to pay this price just to have a badge next to the name of its account, the New York Times also said that it would not reimburse its reporters who decide to pay to have Twitter Blue on their personal accounts.
The only exception would be in situations where having the mark would be essential for reporting purposes, according to the spokesperson.
As mentioned, the NYT is only one of the entities that have announced that they have no intention to pay for the checkmark. Politico also decided not to pay for the blue verification of its staff on Twitter, according to a recent memo.
The same is true for The White House, according to recent reports. The White House will not pay for its staff’s official Twitter profiles, so anyone who wishes to remain verified will have to purchase the blue checkmark out of pocket.
Twitter’s decision has received a massive amount of criticism
The community’s reactions were pretty much the same, and many have criticized the decisions that Musk has made since taking over the platform.
I bought twitter blue for the features, it’s nice.
But removing verification from the people who are notable for some reason makes no sense, I use it a lot when there’s a lot of noise to get for example commmentators or other players or other team owners opinion. Now there’s no…
— Sam Mathews (@sammathews) March 23, 2023
Others have also commented that the decision makes no sense, as many experts in their fields who might refuse to pay will be ignored, while anyone with $7 in their wallet can appear to be influential.
Others have found it unacceptable that Twitter wants to charge journalists and other members of the media for the checkmarks. In people’s minds, these checkmarks still serve as proof of legitimacy and expertise, and it makes people more inclined to trust in the words of the user that has the checkmark.
Twitter is now taking them away from real, trustworthy sources and giving them to anyone on the platform who is willing to pay a few dollars at the time when people need to know who can be trusted more than ever.
