The New York Times lost its verified status on Twitter after declining to pay the site’s authentication charge.
According to Reuters, a Times representative stated on Sunday that the organization would refuse to pay the price to keep its verified checkmark after losing its verified classification.
The Times also stated in the statement that it would typically not pay for its writers’ verifying expenses.
The spokesperson added, “We also will not reimburse journalists for Twitter Blue for their personal accounts, except in very rare circumstances where this status would be absolutely necessary for reporting purposes.”
On March 23, Twitter officially declared that it would “begin winding down” its practice of recognizing heritage verifications.
“We will start closing down our heritage verified program and taking away legacy verified checkmarks on April 1st. People can join up for Twitter Blue here to retain their blue checkmark on Twitter,” according to the business.
In a tweet posted on March 30, Twitter provided additional justification for the introduction of a new authentication feature exclusive to organizations, stating that the change would enable organizations to validate other profiles connected to the organization.
According to what the business wrote, “Verified Organizations is a novel way for businesses to stand out on Twitter. Vetted groups that join Verified groups are fully in control of vetting as well as verifying accounts they are linked, rather than depending on the site to be the only arbiter of truth for which those accounts should be verified.”
The Times covered Twitter’s policy shift on Saturday.
“To get the emblem, users must subscribe to Twitter’s Blue program, which costs $8 per month,” according to the article. “Unverified businesses will have to pay $1,000 per month in order to receive a gold check mark confirming their account.”
The choice made by the Times was apparently mentioned by Twitter CEO Elon Musk early on Sunday morning when he wrote, “The real tragedy of @NYTimes is the fact that their propaganda is not even interesting.”
“Additionally, their stream is Twitter’s version of diarrhea.” In another message, he continued, “It’s illegible. If they only shared their best content, they would have a lot more genuine fans. The same holds true for all media.”
