Blue Check Confusion – The New York Times

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I got my verified Twitter handle about eight years ago while working as a cub reporter at a digital news outlet. I do nothing to get it other than showing up to work one day and Oh, hey, you’ll see! I have verified it. Sweet!

(Technically, the check mark is white, surrounded by blue, but in other languages ​​it is known as a blue check and now I will not squabble about semantics.)

It’s a bit sad to think back to the excitement of getting a check mark, but it’s still an era when digital journalism is struggling to be taken seriously. Requesting such a check, which indicates that Twitter has confirmed the identity of the owner and operator of the account, lends credibility.

Last week, after much clearing of throats, Twitter began removing checkmarks from previously verified accounts whose users refused to pay the fee — most of them. Now, anyone can be “verified” on Twitter. It will cost you $8 per month and there is no point in the verification offered because Twitter does not confirm that they are.

The change in verification is one of the most visible effects Elon Musk has had on Twitter since buying it last year. The information on these platforms, which have been considered very important for following the news, is becoming increasingly unreliable. And for users who rely on Twitter to follow celebrities or other figures, the verification change is part of a series of changes that will make many important users invisible because they refuse to pay to retain their signatures.

When Musk announced that all previously verified users would lose their status, the blue check couldn’t be prouder. Some users are now calling it “horrible marks” or “stink marks,” colleagues Callie Holtermann and Lora Kelley reported last week.

The icon makes its owner seem “desperate for validation,” according to rapper Doja Cat. Twitter also returned blue checks to popular users who didn’t want them, including LeBron James, Bette Midler and Stephen King. Model and internet personality Chrissy Teigen called her blue checks “punishment”.

I argue that the blue check was never as covetable as Musk thought it was. (They call it the “master & peasant system.”) For me and many other journalists, it’s just a tool to prove that the source is me. It’s no different than a press badge or business card.

Why should anyone care about checkmark changes, especially if their job doesn’t involve swiping into DMs? Twitter’s vetting system isn’t perfect, but it makes it easier for users to tell if tweets are coming from a real person or organization, or from, say, an account pretending to be Eli Lilly and promising free insulin for all. (This actually happened in November 2022, destroying the company’s stock.)

Now users have to work hard to make sure that they are the people they want to be. I can prove that it is harder than it sounds.

But that doesn’t mean Musk’s new system isn’t useful in its own way. The new check mark has become an inversion of the old one. If I see you have it, I immediately don’t care what you have to say.

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Read the full issue.

  • Biden will host President Ferdinand Marco of the Philippines tomorrow.

  • Speaker Kevin McCarthy will address the Israeli Parliament tomorrow.

  • The Met Gala is tomorrow evening.

  • Nominations for the 76th Tony Awards will be announced on Tuesday.

  • Federal Reserve officials meet on Wednesday and are expected to raise interest rates.

  • Cinco de Mayo is on Friday

  • The coronation of King Charles III will take place on Saturday at Westminster Abbey. Read more about coronation.

  • The Kentucky Derby, the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, is on Saturday.

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