Lebron James got caught lying again & he bought the twitter verified badge.
April 1 is the dumbest day on the internet, and this year, it’s not just because brands will try to prank you by selling “hot iced coffee.” Starting on Saturday, Twitter will begin removing blue checks from “legacy verified” users if they don’t sign up for a Twitter Blue subscription. This is part of new owner Elon Musk’s grand plan to make Twitter profitable, but this particular scheme has a glaring issue: If anyone with $8 per month can get a blue check, the symbol won’t be cool anymore (and also disinformation will proliferate, but Musk doesn’t seem super worried about that).
Blue check marks were originally created as a way to verify politicians, activists, and journalists/reports, and were used as a tool to help stop the spread of misinformation. By having a blue check mark, an individual was meant to be seen as credible.
Now, we’ve come full circle. Celebrities are a day away from losing their verification badges, and you might think they would lament the loss of this symbol that was literally created to protect them. Unfortunately for Musk, paying for Twitter Blue is cheugy, so some celebrities have spoken out to say that they won’t be paying for a blue check.
“We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for checkmark status for our institutional Twitter accounts,” the Times said in a statement Sunday. “We also will not reimburse reporters for Twitter Blue for personal accounts, except in rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes.”
The New York Times is hardly alone in refusing to pay up for the check mark.
The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, and Vox have also publicly announced they won’t pay for Twitter Blue, the fee-based service that includes the blue check marks. It isn’t just individuals either that could lose the status symbol.
On Sunday, Twitter removed the blue check marks from The New York Times, after the paper of record made it clear last week it would not pay the social media platform for verification of its institutional accounts.
“We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for checkmark status for our institutional Twitter accounts,” the Times said in a statement Sunday. “We also will not reimburse reporters for Twitter Blue for personal accounts, except in rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes.”
The New York Times is hardly alone in refusing to pay up for the check mark.
The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, and Vox have also publicly announced they won’t pay for Twitter Blue, the fee-based service that includes the blue check marks.
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