I got my verified Twitter check mark about eight years ago while working as a cub reporter at a digital news outlet. I do nothing for money but go to work one day and Oh, hey, you’ll look at that! I have been verified. Sweet!
(Technically, checkmarks are white, surrounded by blue, but colloquially they are called blue checkmarks, and I won’t argue semantics for now.)
It feels a bit pathetic when I think back on how excited I was when I received the checkmark, but it was still an era where digital journalism was struggling to be taken seriously. Receiving that check, signifying that Twitter confirmed the identity of the account owner and operator, gave me confidence.
Last week, after several clearings, Twitter began removing check marks from previously verified accounts that users had refused to pay for – the majority of them. Anyone can now be “verified” on Twitter. It will cost you $8 a month and there’s basically no benefit that verification ever gives because Twitter no longer confirms that people are right as they say they are.
The change in verification is one of the most visible effects Elon Musk has had on Twitter since he bought it last year. Information on the platform, once considered indispensable for following breaking news, has become increasingly unreliable. And for users who rely on Twitter to follow celebrities or other personalities, the verification change is part of a change that will make many featured users less visible because they refuse to pay. to keep your check mark.
By the time Musk announced that all previously verified users would lose their status, a blue check was nothing to boast about. Some users are now calling it the “scary sign” or “stink badge”, my colleagues Callie Holtermann and Lora Kelley last week’s report.
According to rapper Doja Cat, the symbol makes its owner seem “desperate to be authenticated”. Twitter has also restored blue checks for popular users who don’t want them, including LeBron James, Bette Midler, and Stephen King. Model and internet personality Chrissy Teigen calls her blue check a form of “punishment”.
I would argue that the blue check was never as coveted as Musk thought. (He calls it “the lord and peasant system.”) For me and many other journalists, it was basically just a tool to prove to sources that I was who I was told I was. . No different than press badges or business cards.
Why should anyone care about checkmark changes, especially if their job doesn’t involve sliding into the DM? Twitter’s checkmark system isn’t perfect, but it makes it easy to tell if tweets are coming from a real person or organization or from an account that pretends to be Eli Lilly and promises free insulin to all. everybody. (This really happened in November 2022, increasing the company’s stock.)
Now, users will have to work harder to make sure everyone is who they are. I can attest that it’s harder than it sounds.
But that doesn’t mean Musk’s new system isn’t useful in its own right. Instead, the new checkmark became an inversion of the old one. If I see you have one, I immediately don’t care what you say.
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NEXT WEEK
What to watch?
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Biden will host President Ferdinand Marco of the Philippines tomorrow.
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy will address the Israeli Parliament tomorrow.
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The Met Gala is tomorrow night.
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Nominations for the 76th Tony Awards will be announced on Tuesday.
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Federal Reserve officials meet on Wednesday and are expected to raise interest rates.
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Cinco de Mayo is on Friday
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The coronation of King Charles III will be held on Saturday at Westminster Abbey. Read more about the coronation.
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The Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, takes place on Saturday.
What to cook this week
