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New York Times Slams Musk Over Twitter Blue Tick
The New York Times slammed Elon Musk after it lost its blue tick on Twitter after stating that it will not pay to be confirmed in the future.
Twitter has begun removing verification badges from accounts that already had a blue tick, following the announcement that they would be part of a paid membership starting on April 1.
The New York Times, along with a number of other organizations and personalities, slammed Elon Musk and stated that they will not pay for the tick. Elon Musk responded by calling out the publication on Twitter.
The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
“The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting,” tweeted Mr Musk, who owns Twitter.
“Their feed is also the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea, unreadable,” he added.
Twitter has not issued a formal statement, and the New York Times has not responded to Mr Musk’s remarks.
According to Twitter’s new guidelines, blue ticks that once indicated official, verified accounts will begin to be removed from accounts that do not pay for it.
Individual accounts must pay $8 per month for a blue verification mark, while organizations must pay $1,000 (£810) per month for a gold verification tick.
The subscription service will produce income for Twitter, but there are concerns that without the verification process, distinguishing genuine accounts from impersonators will be difficult.
NY Times is being incredible hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay *their* subscription
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
The New York Times also stated that it would not pay for the verification of its journalists’ Twitter accounts, except in “rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes,” according to a spokesperson.
Following the statement, the newspaper’s verification badge was removed from its nearly 55 million Twitter followers.
However, it is unclear whether all organizations must join up for the subscription service in order to maintain their verification.
The New York Times reports that 10,000 of Twitter’s most followed organizations will be exempt from the restrictions, citing an internal Twitter document.
Twitter has used three distinct coloured verification badges since December: gold ticks for corporate organizations, grey ticks for government-affiliated accounts or multilateral organizations, and blue ticks for individual accounts.
Many news organizations, including CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, have gold ticks and have stated that they will not pay for Twitter authentication.
Other New York Times profiles with the gold badge include New York Times Arts and New York Times Travel.
The removal of the blue ticks appears to be taking place incrementally. According to The Washington Post, former employees of the company, this could be because it is largely a manual procedure.
Celebrities such as American basketball legend LeBron James, who previously stated that he would not pay for Twitter authentication, still have a blue tick. Ice-T, a rapper from the United States, has also criticized the new fee-paying method.
