The social platform Twitter has removed its verification mark from the main account of The New York Times (NYT) newspaper, two days after the New York newspaper announced that it refused to pay for the new verification service offered by Elon Musk’s company. , dubbed Twitter Blue.
However, the other sections of the newspaper do maintain the distinction of Twitter, which had announced that this Saturday the reorganization of the verification service would come into effect, which requires users to pay $8 to maintain the brand and $1,000 to the companies.
The vast majority of accounts distinguished with the blue mark continue to maintain the distinction, although when selecting the certification it is indicated that said account "is verified because you subscribe to Twitter Blue or are a legacy verified account".
In other words, it does not clarify whether the verification mark appears on the user’s profile because he has paid or because he already had it prior to the entry into force of the new service.
On Friday, The New York Times jokingly anticipated a "apocalypse" on Twitter due to the changes in this system, and insisted that he was not willing to pay for his institutional accounts.
The Times, which with 55 million followers is among the 25 most followed accounts of that social network, also informed its journalists that it will not reimburse them for the subscription to Twitter Blue, which provides the famous blue mark next to the username, "except in rare cases where it was necessary to work"add.
Musk has charged against the NYT on Twitter, calling it "propagandist".
"The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting. Also, his profile is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable. They would have a lot more real followers if they only posted their most important articles."wrote the controversial businessman in a message.
According to The Washington Post, which also announced his refusal to pay for the verification mark, Musk wrote this morning in a tweet that he later deleted that he would give verified accounts "a few weeks grace, unless they say they’re not going to pay now, in which case we’ll remove it".
The Post maintained on Sunday the verification of gold color, reserved for "official organizations".
The basketball player LeBron James, who has 52 million followers and who commented on Friday that he would not pay for his verification, continued to maintain the blue Twitter mark on Sunday.
