Following a statement by New York Times that it would not pay to remain verified, the news hub has lost its blue tick on Twitter.
Observing closely, Twitter has started removing verification badges from accounts which already had a blue tick, after announcing they would be part of a paid subscription from 1 April.
As per BBC reports, The New York Times, along with several other organisations and celebrities, said they would not pay for the tick.
It prompted Elon Musk to launch a volley of insults at the newspaper.
“The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting”, Mr Musk, who owns Twitter, wrote on the platform.
“Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable,” he added.
There has been no official comment from Twitter and the New York Times has not responded to Mr Musk’s comments.
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Under Twitter’s new rules, blue ticks which once showed official, verified accounts, will start to be removed from accounts which do not pay for it.
Organisations seeking verification badges instead have to pay a monthly fee of $1,000 (£810) to receive a gold verification tick, while individual accounts must pay $8 (£6.40) a month for a blue one.
The subscription service will generate revenue for Twitter. However, concerns have been raised that without the verification process, it will be difficult to tell genuine accounts from impersonators.
As well as not paying the subscription fee, the New York Times said it would also not pay for the verification of its journalists’ Twitter accounts, apart from in “rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes”, a spokesperson said.
Following the announcement, the newspaper, which has almost 55 million Twitter followers, lost its verification badge. (BBC)
