On Thursday, Twitter owner Elon Musk changed the financial structure of the social media platform by removing heritage verification status from celebrities and major news sites. This move was met with uncertainty and, in some cases, histrionic reactions.
On April 20th, once Musk had executed the change, verified accounts that had been blue checked under the prior Twitter ownership were no longer verified. Verified users, whether they be individuals or businesses, will now have to pay a monthly fee of $8 for the Twitter Blue service.
Before Musk’s takeover, the majority of blue-checked Twitter users were members of the media, public authorities, and celebrities. Users with blue checkmarks may now modify their postings, add bold and italic text, view fewer ads in their feeds, and increase the character limit of their tweets from the standard 280 to 10,000 for a price.
As authorities try to disseminate emergency notifications, several users have voiced concern that the pages representing agencies or elected persons will no longer be verified. On Thursday, for example, an unconfirmed user posed as New York City government and posted on the official New York City government page. On Friday, the gray checkmark returned to the profiles of several officials and organizations, including the New York City administration.
Xinhua News and RT, both state-run news outlets in China and Russia, no longer have the “state-affiliated media” branding attached to their profiles on Twitter. Since NPR and CBC receive funding from the U.S. and Canadian governments, respectively, Twitter removed the “government-funded media” branding formerly applied to their accounts. As of last week, NPR has stopped using Twitter due to the ban.
Several well-known people voiced their displeasure at the loss of their blue checkmarks and said they would never pay for the distinction again, among the less measured reactions to the change. After the actress Bette Midler complained about losing her verification, several Twitter users joked by starting a GoFundMe for her. Alyssa Milano also voiced her curiosity about the possibility of holding Musk “liable for defamation or identity theft or fraud” in the event that someone else impersonates her account.
Musk said that he would personally foot the bill for verification for basketball player LeBron James, actor William Shatner, and novelist Stephen King, who had all been outspoken in their unwillingness to pay the subscription price. King assured his Twitter followers on Thursday night that he was using Twitter Blue at no cost, to which Musk replied, “you’re welcome namaste.”
Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said he spent $44 billion to acquire Twitter at the end of last year so that he could set aside a portion of the public square for free speech. Musk said that certain advertisers have severed ties with the company, which has led to the implementation of the new revenue system.
Even though nothing has changed with content filtering and we done everything we could to placate the activists, Musk said, “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers.” Totally screwed up! They’re out to silence dissenting voices in the United States.
Musk kicked off his term by firing 6,500 of the 8,000 workers still at the social media company. Some company executives praised the decision, noting that the renewed focus on employing necessary engineering and technology professionals appeared to have saved the company mainly without affecting the platform’s operation.