The date set by Elon Musk, the chairman and CEO of Twitter, has now passed. 1is April, the social network was to officially put an end to its historical system of “certified accounts”: only users who have subscribed to a paid subscription now have, in theory, access to the famous blue badge. But, in reality, different situations continue to cohabit on the platform, in a certain confusion.
For regarding ten years, the social network has offered a number of public figures (elected officials, music stars, top athletes, journalists, etc.) to “verify” their account. A blue tick was displayed on the profile of the accounts thus certified to prove that the identity of their owner had been verified and that it was not a question of usurpation. However, since he took control of the social network, Mr. Musk has wanted to make these badges chargeable: they are now one of the advantages offered to subscribers to a subscription service, called “Twitter Blue”. But to date the old “verified accounts” also retain this display.
For a month, Mr. Musk has multiplied the contradictory messages concerning the future of these “historical” verified accounts, first claiming that they will all lose their mark on the 1is April, then finally that the 10,000 most followed accounts on the platform might keep it. At the same time, Twitter was talking regarding a specific program for certain large public or media organizations that would allow their employees to retain this brand.
The “New York Times” directly targeted
Sunday, April 2, the New York Times announced that he would not pay to earn a certification badge, whether through the program for large organizations ($1,000 per month to verify all employees) or by reimbursing individual employee subscriptions to Twitter Blue ($7 per month) . “Okay, we will take it away from them in this case”, reacted Mr. Musk on Twitter. A few hours later, the official account of the New York Times24e most followed account on the platform with 55 million subscribers, was losing its blue tick. Mr. Musk subsequently qualified the articles published by America’s leading daily “propaganda”and the Twitter account of ” diarrhea “. The situation was immediately taken advantage of by a satirical account, presenting itself as animated by a former screenwriter of the series The simpsonswhich renamed its account “The New York Times” and subscribed to Twitter Blue.
The platform does not communicate any figures on the number of people who have subscribed to one of its new subscriptions. Early estimates give a figure of around 220,000 accounts having paid for this option, half of which have fewer than 1,000 subscribers. Until this weekend, Twitter publicly displayed the origin of a blue tick, distinguishing between people who paid for a Twitter Blue subscription and those with a historical “verified account”. An embarrassing mention for some users, anxious not to appear as having paid for their blue tick? The social network has in any case abolished this differentiation since the 1is April and now displays a message simply saying that an account is “verified”, regardless of where the blue tick came from.
