Twitter’s changing policy over what accounts are marked with a blue checkmark indicating a verified account is sparking confusion over what users’ can expect on the platform. 

The blue check mark next to a user’s account was traditionally used on Twitter to denote that a user was verified to be an authentic account, and was given to public figures and corporate accounts across media, politics and other sectors.

What it means for the news: Media holds breath amid chaotic changes to Twitter verification

Twitter CEO Elon Musk set in motion a plan in November after buying the platform to remove blue checkmarks from formerly verified accounts and instead give them to paid subscribers.

Musk said last month that the legacy verified accounts would start having their badges removed by April 1 if they did not subscribe to Twitter Blue, a subscription service that costs $8 a month for additional Twitter features.

When the deadline hit over the weekend, though, most of the legacy checkmarks appeared to remain with a new distinction: When users clicked on them, a pop-up explained that the account was verified “because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.” 

The changing process and seemingly vague guidelines are raising questions about who will pay for a checkmark and how it impacts the spread of information on the platform. 

The blue check marks ‘died a long time ago’ 

The actions seen on Twitter over the weekend of a culmination of months of changing verification policies.

Musk first changed the policy to let users purchase blue checkmarks in November, which led to an immediate onslaught of accounts impersonating figures like former President George W. Bush and brands like pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. 

In response, Twitter paused the sign ups and added the notes signifying if a user had a blue checkmark because they were a paid subscriber or because they were a legacy verified account.

Those lines, though, were blurred over the weekend with the new description that didn’t distinguish between subscribers and legacy verified accounts. 

After the immediate confusion in November, Twitter under Musk also launched a multicolored checkmark system for different statuses. Gold checks were given to companies, gray checks for government accounts and blue checks for individuals. 

Jennifer Gryigiel, an associate professor of communications at Syracuse University, said the blue checkmarks “died a long time ago” — when Twitter introduced the official institution badges. 

“He burnt down the Twitter of the past, whatever we knew that to be, and he created this new platform,” Grygiel said. 

Grygiel said the new version of how Twitter labeled accounts dissuaded journalism and advocates using the platform —  or users that would “challenge the Musk types” — and instead empowered corporate media accounts and government figures that Musk would want to “bargain and negotiate with.”

And not all corporate media accounts have been able to keep their checkmarks

The official account for The New York Times had its checkmark stripped on Sunday, the same day, Musk slammed the newspaper and called its Twitter feed “unreadable.”

Other media accounts, including for The Hill, and even for other brands associated with the Times like the Twitter accounts for the Times opinion and global news pages still had their checkmarks as of Monday. 

Who will pay for Twitter Blue?

In a statement to The Associated Press, the Times said it is not planning to pay for the monthly fee for the checkmarks and will also not reimburse reporters for check marks for their personal accounts, except “in rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes.”

The change is leading to further questions about who will pay for the service. The White House sent a memo to staff last week saying it would not pay for Twitter Blue for aides. 

The White House memo could set a precedent for how other government institutions, including Congressional offices and local governments, approach the changing policy. 

“It just seems way too late in the game to be telling people that they need to pay a monthly fee to get what they’ve already been getting for a period of years. That’s the problem of giving something away for a long period of time. People get used to it being free,” said Paul Barrett, deputy director for the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. 

In addition to the check marks, the $8 monthly fee for Twitter Blue also gives users the ability to enable two-factor authentication, another feature previously free for Twitter users, and have their tweets appear in the recommended “For You” section on Twitter, Musk said. 

“I’m not at Twitter, so I can’t tell what that effect is, but certainly, from a PR point of view, the fact that a lot of prominent people and prominent organizations, particularly news organizations, are saying ‘Hey, we’re not we’re not going to pay,’ has got to be something of a defeat for Twitter if the idea is that you were expecting people to rush to get their checkbooks out,” Barrett said.

The shift to a subscription-based model, expanding on the limited scope of Twitter Blue before the turnover in control, came as Musk tried to make a profit off his $44 billion deal. 

Musk told employees in a memo in late March the company is worth about half of what he paid for it, $20 billion, The New York Times reported at the time. 

Twitter’s changes raise misinformation concerns

Kayla Gogarty, deputy research director at the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters for America, said the ability for users to subscribe and get a checkmark adds a “veneer of credibility” that could lead to additional misinformation spreading on the platform. 

Gogarty pointed out two concerns that could lead to the spread of misinformation. Primarily, bad actors could create accounts to pose as other figures or brands as happened with the first change. Musk has said accounts impersonating others that do not clearly specify that they are a parody, though, will be suspended. 

Moreover, she said the pay-for-check model poses risks of accounts that were previously banned for spreading harmful misinformation from having their content boosted by buying check marks. She said that risk is amplified since Musk has reinstated accounts that were booted under Twitter’s previous owners. 

“So now their tweets could be ranked ahead of more credible sources, like the New York Times,” she said, if Twitter sticks with what they’ve said about priority ranking accounts subscribed to Twitter Blue.