The official Twitter account of The New York Times has lost the gold mark dedicated to verifying corporate accounts, after a tweet by CEO Elon Musk.
In his tweet, Musk accused the American newspaper, which refuses to pay for the retention of the brand, of practicing "propaganda that is not even interesting."
The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
Asked by AFP, a New York Times spokesman confirmed that the newspaper still refuses to "pay to keep our official accounts certified" and will not compensate its journalists who want to pay for the certification of their own accounts unless it is "necessary for their work".
On Friday, Musk defended his controversial decision to impose a fee on users wanting to verify their Twitter accounts, saying social networks that don't follow in his footsteps would eventually collapse under a flood of fake accounts.
The cost of acquiring the corporate gold brand on Twitter reaches a thousand dollars per month (Getty Images)
Making the blue tick available to anyone willing to pay for it was one of the first decisions made by the American billionaire when he bought the social network last year 2022.
It is noteworthy that the cost of documentation for companies on Twitter reaches a thousand dollars per month, and the official account of the American newspaper has nearly 55 million subscribers.