We will not pay you... Celebrities and international media are challenging Elon Musk and Twitter
A large number of celebrities, in addition to the White House and media around the world, refused to pay Twitter and its owner, Elon Musk, in exchange for obtaining the blue verification mark for accounts on the famous social networking platform.
The blue mark is a symbol for verifying the accounts of personalities and institutions on Twitter, but it began to gradually disappear from the accounts, as of early April, and it will only become available to those who pay an estimated $8 per month.
And the Twitter administration announced a few days ago that it would start phasing out the “old verification program” and removing some “old verification tags”, starting from the first of April.
Since its launch in 2009, this blue mark affixed to the profile name has become one of the basic signs on Twitter, as it was flocked to by account holders wishing to verify it, allowing the platform to become a safe forum for stars, politicians, organizations and journalists.
The White House was at the forefront of refusing to pay and told its employees last March by e-mail that it would not pay for subscribing to the Twitter Blue service, and if they wanted to keep the signs of their verified accounts, they would have to pay for that, according to what was reported by the “Axios” website. .
In a post on Twitter, the American basketball player, LeBron James, confirmed that he would not pay for a Twitter Blue subscription, and told his followers in the tweet: “The blue tick mark for my account will disappear soon, and if you know me, I will not pay any subscription.”
Likewise, NFL star Patrick Mahomes asked when Twitter pulled the blue check mark from his account: “When will they remove the blue check marks?”, before jokingly confirming that he could not pay the monthly fee because he had to feed his children.
Canadian actor William Shatner also indicated that he would not pay for the certification mark.
As the American singer “Jimmie Allen”, among the prominent celebrities on Twitter, announced that he would not pay for the blue mark, and wrote on his account on the platform: “I am not also paying for the blue verification mark on Twitter.”
This is in addition to the actor of the famous Seinfield series, Jason Alexander, who recently announced that he might delete his Twitter account permanently, because losing his account to the authentication mark will make anyone who can easily impersonate him.
Likewise, American singer and actress Dionne Warwick expressed similar dissatisfaction, saying, "I don't pay for a blue label, this money I can allocate for an extra cup of my coffee."
Former soccer star Ty Hill joined the list of angry celebs, noting in a tweet, "For $8 you can get that blue check mark, you don't need any kind of plan."
American soccer player Darius Slay mocked the idea of losing his account to the authentication mark, indicating in a tweet on his Twitter account that the new change will make it difficult for his team's fans to refer to him in their tweets, especially those in which they criticize his performance during matches.
CNN journalist Larry Madowo joined the list of celebrities who lost the authentication tag that accompanied their Twitter account, and refuse to pay for its recovery.
Addressing Twitter, he said, "I have no plans to pay for (Twitter Blue) service at this time, and the same goes for CNN."
"We do not plan to pay the monthly checkmark status fee for our corporate Twitter accounts," newspaper spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said in a statement.
"We also will not reimburse reporters for personal accounts, except in rare circumstances where such status is necessary for reporting purposes."
Spokeswoman Jennifer Lee said the newspaper would not pay for the notarization mark “as or on behalf of an organization.”
She added: “It is clear that the check marks no longer represent authority and expertise. And as of now, nothing will change in terms of our use of the platform from our brand accounts.”
"In the future, a check mark ... will mean you pay for benefits like longer tweets and fewer ads," Anita Kumar, senior standards and ethics editor, wrote to staff Thursday in an internal memo.
She added, “Politco will not pay for a Twitter Blue subscription. You can, of course, register at your own expense.”
"Insider does not plan to pay for Twitter Blue as a news organization or on behalf of our newspaper," company spokesperson Mario Ruiz said in a statement.
"The value of the blue check mark used to be that it indicated that the person said this, now the check mark only indicates that these are Twitter Blue subscribers, which doesn't help Twitter users or our readers."
In a note to newsroom staff last Thursday, managing editor Sarah Yassin wrote that the paper would not pay for Twitter Blue subscriptions or verify the organization's own accounts.
“It remains unclear whether there is an actual value in doing so, other than identifying all of us as LA Times employees,” Yasin said.
And she continued: Verification “no longer establishes authority or credibility, and while Twitter remains an important tool for news gathering, it is no longer as reliable as it once was.”
Post a Comment