Was it all a heavily foreshadowed prank? On April 1, I opened Twitter and was dismayed to learn that I still have a blue check. Initially worried that people might think I had paid to retain my “verification” mark—as CEO Elon Musk had demanded—I was somewhat relieved to learn that it wasn’t just me; only a handful of accounts have lost their ticks.
That handful notably includes the main New York Times account, which was de-checked after someone told Musk that the newspaper refused to pay up—Musk claimed the Times was being “incredible hypocritical” because it enforces a paywall, which would be a more coherent argument if the Gray Lady were trying to get readers to pay to write her articles.
