The prestigious The New York Times has lost its Twitter verification badge, after drawing the ire of the billionaire owner Elon Musk for his refusal to pay for the privilege with Twitter Blue.
According to a report published on the website of Bloombergthe main account of The New York Timeswho has around 55 million followers, no longer has a verification mark, although several of the accounts in her subsection remain verified.
the accounts of books and food retain their inherited blue marks without paying, while NYT Travel she wears a gold badge, as she is associated with an official organization on Twitter. The newspaper was one of the first major news publications to say it won’t pay a fee to have its Twitter accounts verified..
Musk, who has been enacting an $8-a-month Twitter Blue subscription as the main way to stay verified on his social network, responded by lashing out at the newspaper, which charges for its own subscription service.
For Musk, the NYT is “hypocritical”
Elon Musk called the post hypocritical and characterized its coverage as “propaganda”: “NY Times is being incredibly hypocritical here as they are super aggressive in forcing everyone to pay *their* subscription”.
NY Times is being incredibly hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay *their* subscription
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
Musk also responded to a meme about The New York Times refusal to pay for Twitter Blue: “Oh ok we’ll remove it then”.
Oh ok, we’ll take it off then
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
Twitter said it would start removing unpaid checkmarks starting April 1. In a now-deleted tweet, Musk suggested that his company would give “a few weeks’ grace” to accounts that have not yet paid to maintain their status and only those that confirm they will pay.
Interestingly, the company began automatically responding to press requests for comment with a poop emoji.