Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, has stripped the New York Times account of its verification badge after the news platform opposed the mandatory $1,000 monthly subscription payment to keep the badge.
The New York Times, a popular newspaper based in the U.S. with correspondents across the world, had objected to paying the fee to retain the verification badge it had freely enjoyed for years.
In response to the objection, Mr Musk swiftly took down the badge but not before launching a barrage of insults at the newspaper.
“The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting”, Mr Musk tweeted Sunday morning.
“Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable.”As part of the sweeping changes Mr Musk introduced to Twitter since he purchased it last October, he has mandated organisations to henceforth pay a $1,000 monthly fee to keep their verification ticks and pay extra $50 monthly charge for affiliated staff members, a move The Times explicitly opposed.
The Times further said it would not pay or reimburse reporters who subscribe to Twitter Blue except in “rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes,” according to the newspaper’s spokesperson.
The main Twitter account for The Times no longer has the blue tick, checks by Peoples Gazette showed on Sunday.
However, New York Times Opinion, New York Times Travel, offshoots of The Times, still retained their gold verification ticks.The removal of verification badges from popular organisations may make it easy for impostors to pose as the legitimate ones.
CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times have also taken a similar stance on the matter, refusing to pay the fee which may soon lead to the removal of their verification badges.
