New York Times, AP, and White House staff will not pay for Twitter verification mark

ByGemma Iso

April 4, 2023

Twitter has removed the verification check mark on the main account of The New York Times after it expressed its decision not to pay the monthly fee for its check mark status.

“We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for checkmark status for our institutional Twitter accounts,” the Times said in a statement Sunday.

“We also will not reimburse reporters for Twitter Blue for personal accounts, except in rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes,” the newspaper added.

The Associated Press, which has said it also will not pay for the check marks, still had them on its accounts at midday Sunday.

The White House is also passing on enrolling in premium accounts, according to a memo sent to staff. While Twitter has granted a free gray mark for President Joe Biden and members of his Cabinet, lower-level staff won’t get Twitter Blue benefits unless they pay for it themselves.

https://youtu.be/fcdJuHlKDc8

New York Times No Go!

The removal comes as many of Twitter’s high-profile users are bracing for the loss of the blue check marks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors on the social media platform.

Musk, who owns Twitter, set a deadline of Saturday for verified users to buy a premium Twitter subscription or lose the checks on their profiles.

Early Sunday, Musk tweeted that the Times’ check mark would be removed. Later he posted disparaging remarks about the newspaper.

In one tweet, Musk said, “The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting.”

“Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable. They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles. The same applies to all publications,” Musk added.

Verified Status Loss

Though he did not elaborate on the New York Times losing its verified status, he later called the media outlet “hypocritical” for insisting on people pay for their subscription

“NY Times is being incredibly hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay *their* subscription,” while refusing to do the same for Twitter.