Polish and global media have lost the blue verification badge on Twitter, confirming the authenticity of their accounts. It is no longer visible at the largest TV stations, Internet portals and press titles, including at CNN, BBC or Politico. The platform is removing stamps from the accounts of those users who have not paid for it.
On Thursday, Twitter began the process of removing the blue stamps confirming the authenticity of accounts for users who have not purchased a Twitter Blue subscription. Stamp Celebrities have already lost Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Robert Lewandowski or Cristiano Ronaldoand government institutions, including Polish ministries and the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. The media are also losing their stamp.
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The media lost the blue stamp on Twitter
Among the world’s media outlets that have lost their authenticity tag on Twitter include: CNN, BBC, “The Guardian”, NBC News or Fox News. The New York Times lost its designation earlier after announcing it would no longer pay the eight-dollar monthly fee for it. The portal Politico, which also no longer has a stamp, also refused to pay.
The biggest Polish media, including TVN24, Onet, Wirtualna Polska, “Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Rzeczpospolita”, Radio Zet and Radio TOK FM also lost their stamp.
In turn, the stamp was not lost, for example, by “The Washington Post”, “Bloomberg”, “Forbes” or “The Wall Street Journal” – a gold stamp can be seen on their profiles, which indicates that they have decided to pay a verification fee.
At the same time, the platform removed stamps identifying some media as state-funded. This stamp was added to the profile of the American radio station NPR, the Canadian CBS station and the British BBC. Broadcasters protested the markings, and NPR announced that if the badge was not removed, it would stop using Twitter.
New rules on Twitter
After Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, he decided to change the rules for granting the blue verification badge. From 2009, it served as confirmation of the credibility of a given account and was to prevent impersonation of famous people and institutions on this platform. Currently, the blue stamp can be purchased – it costs eight dollars, in Poland PLN 36 per month. On Twitter, you can also see gold stamps that can be purchased by institutions, such as the media. Gray stamps, on the other hand, are reserved for government institutions.
Although the changes had been announced for many months, their implementation caused huge chaos on Twitter. Some accounts lost stamps and then got them back after a few hours. This was the case, for example Pope Francis.
tvn24.pl,virtualmedia.pl, Twitter
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