One of the constants in many organizations in recent weeks on Twitter has been to say "we will not pay". Elon Musk's decision to charge for the blue check mark (tick) that many companies and organizations have had for years has caused an adverse reaction. It can be obtained without paying, but the decision rests with Twitter and some have lost it or are in the process of losing it.
One of the most poisonous controversies is with the newspaper The New York Times. Musk has been at odds with the newspaper for years. The publishing company has already announced that it does not plan to pay to have the blue tick and that only in very exceptional cases could they consider paying it for one of its journalists or collaborators. The reaction of the owner of the social network has been critical, because he considers that the rotary can afford to pay for the service for companies.
The availability of the blue mark is from now on for three reasons: to be a prominent account in some area, to be verified by seniority or because the owner is subscribed to Twitter Blue, paying 11 euros per month (if is through the Apple store) or 8 euros per month within the same social network.
On Twitter itself there is a very strong protest movement against payment and against accounts that pay for subscription. While Musk's initial intention was to indicate on each account's profile why it was verified, he eventually backed off, so now what you can see on profiles is that the account is "verified because it's subscribed to Twitter Blue or because it is a verified account according to the old system”.
The Twitter Blue membership, of course, has its perks, such as being able to upload videos up to an hour long, but what outrages a good portion of the social mass of the network is that money allows for notoriety.
By default, the one that appears is For You , which now preferentially shows tweets and mentions from accounts that pay the monthly subscription. The other tab is Following , which is the one that shows the accounts the user is interested in, even if the social network's algorithm tends to show others to begin with.
The golden signal, which has already begun to be awarded, will basically correspond to companies and institutions, while the blue is awarded mainly to individual accounts. Some time to determine, there will also be a gray check mark, although it has not yet started to be assigned to anyone.
One of the controversies over the awarding of verification marks has come from some respected public companies. One is the BBC, to which Twitter has put the seal of "Founded by the Government", something that no one understands in the United Kingdom, where the channel, despite all the ups and downs, has always maintained its prestige as independent of political power.
A similar thing happens with the National Public Radio (NPR) of the United States, a non-profit public broadcasting service that produces radio programs for a network of more than a thousand stations distributed throughout the country.
Twitter labeled NPR as a “state-affiliated US media outlet,” prompting a backlash. Finally, Musk admitted the mistake after being interviewed by a reporter and changed the chain's label to that of "Government-funded media", despite the fact that the federal administration contributes only 1% of its annual funding.
