2023-04-23 08:48:17
As of Thursday, Twitter’s blue certification checkmark is in theory only accessible by people who pay.
The account verification system on Elon Musk’s Twitter couldn’t get any more incomprehensible, and yet perplexity reigned supreme on Saturday April 22, with blue badges making a comeback on some media accounts or personalities – whether they like it or not. “On my soul I didn’t pay for Twitter Blue, Tesla man you gonna feel my wrath!tweeted American rapper Lil Nas X, whose profile displays the blue checkmark.
Formerly free, and a guarantee of authenticity and notoriety, it now means that the user is subscribed to Twitter Blue (for 8 dollars per month) and that his telephone number has been verified by the platform. This Thursday, accounts that had the old blue badge lost it, unless they paid for the new one, following Elon Musk’s strategy put in place this winter to authenticate users and generate new revenue. But a tiny fraction of distinguished former users subscribed – less than 5% of the 407,000 profiles concerned, according to researcher Travis Brown.
“Forcibly checked”
On Friday and Saturday, a growing number of personalities found a blue tick, apparently without action on their part, such as writer Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James or former President Donald Trump. “No means no, guys“Tech journalist Kara Swisher tweeted this Saturday, explaining that she had been”forcibly checked“, without sound “consent». «People need to know: does Elon love me for me or for the 1.49 million people who follow me?“, she added, an hour after claiming that she would not pay”eight bucks a month for a blue tick and boof tools».
Read alsoWhy the public media slingshot is rising against Twitter’s new rules
Many authenticated users despite themselves were keen to let it be known that they had nothing to do with it, because the controversial badge has become a symbol of support for Elon Musk. “Please note that I have not subscribed to Twitter Blue, although for some mysterious reason my blue tick appears againsaid author Rick Wilson.
Progressive economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, who once poked fun at the “poorly controlled impulsivityby Elon Musk last July, said on Saturday:I have nothing to do with it and I certainly do not pay“. The Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX boss responded with an image of a baby smeared in tomato sauce, crying over his plate of pasta and wearing a blue checkmark-stamped bib.
This Friday, the manager had indicated that he “personally paid for some subscriptions». «Checkmate“, he mysteriously tweeted this Saturday, amid speculation. “Musk’s business model is to falsify celebrity endorsements like a box of penis-enlarging pills“Launched lawyer Max Kennerly.
Concerned accounts of deceased persons
Accounts of deceased people, such as American chef Anthony Bourdain, have also received the new blue badge. And many official media accounts have it too, even the New York Times which lost its certification in early April after Elon Musk called the information published there “propaganda».
Read alsoAurélie Jean: “By withdrawing Twitter certification from the New York Times, Musk betrays his ideal of freedom”
Some large press groups have a golden badge reserved for “verified organizationswho pay at least $1,000 a month. But US public radio NPR and public media group CBC Radio-Canada had still not started tweeting again as of Saturday. These two organizations recently suspended their activities on Twitter to protest against the labels attached to them by Twitter: “government funded media» or «state-affiliatedterms previously reserved for non-independent media funded by autocratic governments.
On Friday, Elon Musk’s platform removed these labels, including for the official Chinese agency Xinhua (New China) or the Russian RT. “Was the real purpose of all the fuss around NPR to help China and Russia? Sounds good: By removing labels from state-controlled media, Twitter is helping propaganda“said Kara Swisher on Saturday morning. AFP did not contact Twitter, which no longer officially responds to the press except with an emoticon in the shape of a poo.
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