Twitterverse Puzzled as New York Times Loses Blue Check: ‘Tidal Wave of Disinformation’

thewrap.com:

promised, and one of its first targets has puzzled Twitterverse.The Twitter account for The New York Times lost its verification early Sunday, days after the legacy newspaper said it refused to pay the monthly $8 subscription to “Twitter Blue.”“We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for verification of our institutional Twitter accounts,” a spokesperson for The New York Times told CNN’s Oliver Darcy. “We also will not reimburse reporters for the verification of personal accounts” with the sole exception of “rare instances where verified status would be essential for reporting purposes.”With the organization’s blue check mark noticeably becoming one of the first “legacy” verified accounts to disappear, reactions of dismay poured in, with one user commenting, “the tidal wave of disinformation here in the coming months is going to be massive.”Another user pointed out that organization’s loss of Twitter Blue status only harms Twitter in the long run, saying “it’s the first big step in stripping away the true value of this social media platform – trusting and knowing something is real without having to spend time investigating.”All eyes were on Musk, who some users believe retaliated against the NY Times by taking their blue check after he insulted the news organization on Twitter late Saturday. “The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting,” he tweeted, adding, “their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea.