MUSKED-UP: New York Times stripped of Twitter verification checkmark
The New York Times has become the first casualty of the Twitter Bluecheck Wars, losing its checkmark after publicly announcing it would refuse to pay for Elon Musk‘s Ponzi scheme, Twitter Blue.
It’s nobody’s fault but Musk’s that he failed to monetize his deliberate attempt to kill Twitter, and now he’s finding out what happens when you try to make other people bail you out of your bad investment.
William Shatner, Questlove, and LeBron James are just a few of the high-profile celebrities who have aligned with The White House in refusing to pay for Twitter Blue amid Musk’s threats to end the “Legacy Verified” system on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1641836984195743749?s=20
Pre-Elon, those blue checks meant you could trust that your source was a real human person who was “notable” enough to merit the distinction.
It’s all about protecting your identity, which is increasingly harder to do in the AI age.
Trying to get news organizations and the President to pay for Twitter is a bad precedent, and as we Verified users worried whether the threat was real or an April Fool’s joke, I came up with what I thought was a pretty great solution. Even Quest agreed!
He better, cause I’m not paying to be here. https://t.co/ztGPa62Auf
— Plug 5. (@questlove) March 28, 2023
It’s just too bad Elon Musk never listens to anyone else because he has no sense of how to process actual human emotions.
Ironic, considering he just might be part Vulcan.
So while those are nice sentiments my friend; you already know each & every celebrity, gvt agency & well known person who are verified. The $7/mo “equality” claim seems like a money grab. ☝🏻👉🏻There’s nothing wrong with money grabs if you are clear upfront.
You aren’t. 😉— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) March 28, 2023
As a Legacy Verified user since 2016, I can tell you it’s vitally important that anyone reading my tweets knows it’s really me sharing what I’m sharing.
It has nothing to do with “elitism” or any other buzzwordy bullshittery Musk comes up with.
Since Twitter Blue automatically gives the user a blue checkmark, now I get trolled by $8 losers like these two from the Incel Neckbeard faction of the MAGA Dipshit Brigade who think it’s fine to harass women online.
Twitter, this is what is called a neckbeard incel pic.twitter.com/ABK9q9uMAU
— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) March 23, 2023
Writing for MSNBC, Zeeshan Aleem nails Musk to the wall with the same kinds of takes I’ve been tweeting about since before his terrible takeover.
“Musk decided that the reason verified badges were important was not because they verified identity, but because of the way they signaled social clout — and that he could cash in on this by trying to get a bigger network of people to pay for them,” Aleem writes.
“So now under his paid verification service, users’ identities are not confirmed, but blue checks can be distributed to anyone willing to open up their wallet. In other words, he’s hollowed out their meaning but kept the trappings intact.”
And now we wait to see if makes good on his latest goalpost move to April 15th.
Elon Musk quickly deleted a tweet saying legacy verified accounts would not lose their checkmarks on April 1 as he previously said, won’t happen for another “few weeks”
however, if they specifically say they won’t pay for Twitter Blue, then Twitter will remove their checkmark pic.twitter.com/HiiWwf30tb
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) April 2, 2023
Meanwhile, we’ll be reading The New York Times on their own website.
Follow Tara Dublin on Twitter @taradublinrocks.
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.
Tara is a reported opinion columnist at Occupy Democrats. She's a woefully underappreciated and unrepresented writer currently shopping for a super cool novel that has nothing to do with politics while also fighting fascism on a daily. Follow her on Twitter @taradublinrocks