Photo Credit: Twitter Verified
Twitter won’t charge $1,000-a-month verification fees for its most prominent businesses and advertisers.
Under its Elon Musk leadership, Twitter has announced that it will begin removing “legacy” verified checkmarks from individuals and organizations approved under the company’s previous criteria starting April 1. At that point, only paying customers will be granted verified checkmarks, which are now blue for individual accounts, gold for brands and companies, and grey for government organizations.
Organizations and businesses must pay $1,000 monthly, including non-profits and government entities, to maintain “verified” status. Additionally, the company will charge an additional $50 for each affiliate sub-account, such as employees or divisions.
But the New York Times reports that not all organizations must pay for the privilege, as Twitter will waive the $1,000 monthly fee for its 500 largest advertising clients and the 10,000 most-followed brands, companies, and organizations verified under the previous system. These include the official Twitter account, the BBC’s breaking news account, CNN, ESPN, the New York Times, and YouTube.
“Accounts affiliated with the organization will receive an affiliate badge on their profile with the organization’s logo and will be featured on the organization’s Twitter profile, indicating their affiliation. All organizations are vetted before they can join Verified Organizations,” tweeted the Twitter Verified account.
“We’ve already seen organizations, including sports teams, news organizations, financial firms, Fortune 500 companies, and non-profits, join Verified Organizations and list their affiliated accounts publicly on their profiles.”
“Important to establish whether someone actually belongs to an organization or not so as to avoid impersonation,” Musk said, quote-tweeting the Twitter Verified account’s post about the changes to the Verified Organizations subscription plan.
Musk has previously criticized Twitter’s former verification system, calling it “corrupt and nonsensical.”
“It’s more about treating everyone equally,” Musk said of the new system in reply to actor William Shatner, who was outspokenly in opposition to the new paid verification system. “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities.”
Meanwhile, the Times’ report focused on Musk’s alleged attempt to meet with Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to discuss the agency’s investigation into Twitter’s data security and privacy practices. The report says Musk’s request to meet “was rebuffed.”