Twitter’s plan to replace its current verification badges with a new paid subscription service, Twitter Blue, is facing resistance from major media outlets. Twitter Blue will give users a blue badge on their account for $8 per month. However, as Twitter prepares to remove the badge from non-paying accounts on April 1, media companies have announced that they won’t be joining this new business plan.
New: The New York Times says it is not planning to pay for Twitter verification:
“We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for verification of our institutional Twitter accounts,” a spokesperson tells me.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 30, 2023
Oliver Darcy, a CNN reporter, contacted several media companies and found that none of them were planning to pay for their employees to get the new Twitter Blue badge. the New York Times stated that they won’t be paying the monthly fee for verification of their institutional Twitter accounts. They also won’t pay to give their reporters Twitter Blue badges, except in rare instances where verified status is essential for reporting purposes.
the Los Angeles Times and Politico, among others, shared the same concerns. They believed that the Blue Verification badge on Twitter was no longer indicative of authority or reliability. According to Politico, in the future, a tick won’t indicate that you’re a legit journalist. Instead, you’ll be exchanging money for perks like increased tweet length and fewer interruptions.
In related news, Twitter recently revealed the revamped plans and terms for its APIs. There will be three tiers for API access: a free tier, a basic tier for $100 a month, and an enterprise tier that offers full access. While Twitter has not publicly revealed the price for the enterprise tier, it’s expected to cost thousands of dollars a month.
Twitter also stated that its advertisements API will be available to all customers, including developers on the new free tier. They are still figuring out how to make their APIs available to researchers.
Also Read: Twitter’s new API pricing is killing many Twitter apps that can’t pay $42,000 per month