No blue tick for newspaper
Elon Musk slams the New York Times on Twitter
4/3/2023 12:01 p.m
In order to fill Twitter’s empty coffers, its boss Elon Musk makes the blue “authenticity” tick for users subject to a fee. The New York Times, however, refuses to pay for the symbol. Musk doesn’t like it at all – and after a few insulting words, the hook in the US newspaper is removed.
With the paid Twitter Blue subscription, Elon Musk wants to flush more money into Twitter’s coffers. The Twitter boss had set a deadline for prominent users in this context and announced: Those who do not buy a premium subscription will lose the blue tick. The New York Times, however, refuses to pay for verification. Musk’s reaction: First he posted disparaging remarks about the renowned US newspaper. Then he had the tick removed without further ado – although it still appears on other unpaid accounts.
In the meantime, however, the verification symbols have hardly any meaning. The difference between the ticks previously given to prominent users after a check and the new payment symbols without real verification has been completely blurred on Monday night.
Elon Musk recently announced that the previous symbols will be removed from April 1st. Nevertheless, numerous previously verified accounts still had the symbol – but the explanatory text was adjusted to both types of ticks. Previously, when users clicked on the symbol, they were shown whether it was once given away for free or was now purchased with a subscription payment. Now all ticks state that the account either has a subscription or was previously verified.
“Ok, let’s take it away then”
Only with the “New York Times” did Musk apparently make an exception. The verification tick has recently disappeared from the newspaper’s account. A Twitter user had previously pointed out to Musk that the newspaper had announced that it would not pay for a subscription with the symbol. “Ok, let’s take it away then,” Musk replied. He then attacked the newspaper in more tweets. Among other things, he wrote that the “New York Times” spreads “propaganda that is not even interesting”. He called the newspaper’s tweets “diarrhea”.
Meanwhile, other major US media had announced that they would not pay for the symbol. They still had their ticks this Monday. Just like many other well-known Twitter users. Basketball star LeBron James also announced that he would not subscribe to keep the white tick on a blue background in his profile.
Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion last October. This was followed by a slump in advertising revenue – and he is now relying more on subscription revenues. The subscription costs eight euros per month for one user. Companies and organizations should pay a monthly basic fee of 950 euros plus 50 euros for each linked account for a golden yellow verification symbol.