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Twitter Blue verification controversy

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Blue circle with a checkmark in the middle
Twitter introduced a checkmark for verified individuals, as seen above, in June 2009.

On April 20, 2023, Twitter (known as X since July 2023) began removing verification status for notable individuals, causing a controversy among Twitter users. The website's system was altered, allowing any individual to receive verification for a monthly fee, an act which saw significant criticism.

Background

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Twitter verification

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Main article: Twitter verification
Avatar of TonyLaRussa
Avatar of TonyLaRussa
 TonyLaRussa
@TonyLaRussa
 Twitter logo, a stylized blue bird

Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher... I'd call that an I-55 series

April 19, 2009[1]

In May 2009, then-manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony La Russa, sued Twitter after an account on the service began impersonating him, alleging that Twitter abetted in defaming his likeness.[2] The lawsuit included the feed of @TonyLaRussa, a Twitter account not owned by La Russa, with the first tweet in the feed referencing the deaths of Cardinals pitchers Darryl Kile and Josh Hancock.[1] In response, Twitter introduced a verification system known as "Verified Accounts", and settled the lawsuit with La Russa.[3] In a blog post titled, "Not Playing Ball", then-CEO Biz Stone wrote that Twitter "[recognizes] an opportunity to improve [its] user experience". The blog post provides an image of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s emergency account with a verification checkmark beside its name while naming other institutions and people that could receive the checkmark, such as well-known artists and athletes.[4] Within days, notable individuals such as actor Ashton Kutcher and talk show host Oprah Winfrey received a blue checkmark.[5]

In 2010, Twitter opened up verification to all users, but shut down public verification after it became inundated with requests. According to Andy Cohn, who attempted to get the Twitter account for The Fader verified in 2012, only accounts who faced repeated impersonation attempts or those who spent at least US$15,000 on advertisements in the last three months were eligible for verification; an impersonator of Wendi Deng Murdoch—then businessman Rupert Murdoch's wife—was able to get verified regardless.[6] Twitter opened up verification to all users once again in July 2016, but reserved that "verification does not equal endorsement".[7]

In November 2016, Twitter suspended prominent white nationalist Richard B. Spencer from the platform, along with several other alt-right figures. Spencer's account was then reinstated in December, with his verification status remaining intact.[8] Twitter faced backlash in November 2017 when it verified the account of Jason Kessler, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist. The backlash forced Twitter to pause its verification program.[9] Several days later, Twitter removed Spencer and Kessler's verification statuses.[10] Likewise, Twitter had removed verification from Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos for violating its policies in January, signaling Twitter verification implied endorsement.[11] Despite a lack of public verification, Twitter continued to verify accounts that provided credible information about the COVID-19 pandemic and labeled candidates in the 2018 United States elections and the 2020 United States presidential election.[12][13] Twitter reintroduced public verification in May 2021, with updated guidelines in January 2021 requiring verified accounts to have a verified email address or phone number, and stating that users may lose their blue checkmark for violating Twitter's rules. The announcement came alongside a new label for automated or bot accounts and deceased users.[12]

Twitter Blue

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Main article: Twitter Blue

In June 2021, Twitter announced Twitter Blue, a subscription service granting users the ability to undo tweets before they're sent, grouping saved tweets, a "reader mode" to view replied tweets in quicker succession, and various color themes, alongside dedicated customer support.[14] Launching at an introductory price of US$2.99 per month, the service increased in price in July 2022 to US$4.99 a month,[15] with Twitter Blue subscribers receiving the ability to edit tweets later on.[16]

Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

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Main article: Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk
Further information: Twitter under Elon Musk
In October 2022, business magnate Elon Musk (pictured) acquired Twitter.

In June 2009, business magnate Elon Musk joined Twitter, and has held an interest in the site. Musk's tweets, ranging from adoration to repudiation, have regarded the site at times. Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack and Twitter's suspension of then-president Donald Trump, Musk began tweeting about free speech at a more frequent rate, and focused on spam accounts more heavily.[17] Musk became the company's largest shareholder in April 2022 with the purchase of US$3.7 billion shares of Twitter, or 9.2% of the company's stock volume, ahead of mutual fund company The Vanguard Group's 8.8% stake.[18] According to The Washington Post, prompted by the suspensions of conservative Christian satire website The Babylon Bee and Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Musk proposed an acquisition of Twitter on April 14.[19] On October 27, 2022, Musk acquired Twitter for US$44 billion, following a legal battle with the company.[20]

Initial implementation of paid verification

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Announcement

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In October 2022, Casey Newton of Platformer reported that executives at Twitter began discussing the possibility of users being forced to pay for Twitter Blue in order to keep their verification status.[21] Musk publicly announced that verification was "being revamped right now" after Newton's article; according to The Verge, Twitter planned to increase the price of Twitter Blue from US$4.99 per month to US$19.99 per month. Users would have had 90 days to subscribe or face losing their verification status, and employees were told to implement paid verification by November 9 or risk getting fired.[22] Upon the news that Twitter Blue would cost US$19.99 per month, author Stephen King expressed displeasure towards Twitter and stated that he would leave. Musk, replying to King's tweet, proposed that the service should cost US$7.99 instead. In a separate tweet, Musk wrote that Twitter Blue subscribers would receive priority in replies, mentions, and search, fewer advertisements, and longer audio and video.[23]

Although paid verification was expected to be launched by November 7, the reintroduction of Twitter Blue was delayed until after the 2022 United States elections on November 9, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.[24] The announcement of paid verification resulted in several accounts facetiously impersonating Musk, such as those of comedians Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman, being suspended. In response, Musk announced that impersonators using Twitter Blue "will be permanently suspended".[25] An "official" label was announced on November 8 for notable accounts.[26] Hours after the label began rolling out, Musk tweeted that he "killed" the label.[27]

Impersonation attempts

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Despite a seven-page document written by Twitter's content moderation team,[28] on November 9, Twitter Blue launched with verification exclusively on iOS.[29] Upon introducing paid verification, various individuals in sports Twitter were impersonated, such as sports writer Adam Schefter and basketball player LeBron James, with tweets announcing the supposed ousting of Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels or James' trade from the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.[30] As impersonation accounts began appearing for Nintendo and Tesla—the latter being owned by Musk—the official label returned.[31] Other individuals and companies impersonated include former president Donald Trump, video game company Valve, and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.[32] One account impersonating the beverage corporation PepsiCo praised the superiority of Coca-Cola.[33] Twitter paused signups for Twitter Blue on November 11; according to a Slack message obtained by Platformer reporter Zoë Schiffer, the company paused subscriptions to deal with impersonation attempts.[34] Musk believed that impersonation would be resolved if Apple handed over the credit card information of Twitter Blue subscribers; then head of trust and safety Yoel Roth explained that Apple would not oblige to such a request.[28]

The Washington Post published a report on November 11 detailing how reporter Geoffrey Fowler was, with permission from United States senator Ed Markey, impersonating a U.S. senator, noting that a bug in Twitter's iOS app made the checkmarks for Markey's official account and the impersonation account virtually indistinguishable.[35] Markey, who has publicly refuted the safety of Tesla's self-driving technology, publicly debated with Musk and stated that Congress would take action against Twitter if Musk did not.[36]

Eli Lilly and Company tweet

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Avatar of Eli Lilly and Company
Avatar of Eli Lilly and Company
 Eli Lilly and Company
@EliLillyandCo
 Twitter logo, a stylized blue bird

We are excited to announce insulin is free now.

November 10, 2022[37]

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act passed, requiring companies to cap the price of insulin at US$35 per month for Medicare.[38] On November 10, a Twitter account impersonating the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company—one of the three largest manufacturers of insulin—posted a tweet stating that insulin would be made free.[39] According to The Washington Post, Twitter failed to respond to the company for several hours. The incident resulted in Eli Lilly pulling advertisements from Twitter. United States senator Bernie Sanders used the tweet to highlight the price of insulin as other users began creating satirical accounts jovially apologizing for making insulin free, with one such account writing, "Humalog is now $400. We can do this whenever we want and there's nothing you can do about it".[40]

The identity of the user who posted the tweet remained unknown until November 22, when Sean Morrow, a 34-year-old writer for the media organization More Perfect Union, admitted to operating the account and writing the tweet. In a video, Morrow stated that he used the account of the Mothman running for the United States Senate for West Virginia, and put that the account was a parody in its biography. Morrow took the video to detail the history of insulin manufacturing and the monopolization of the insulin industry. Eli Lilly further lowered the price of insulin in March 2023.[38]

Reintroduction of verification

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On November 25, Musk announced that verification would be split into separate checkmarks for companies (in gold), government institutions (in gray), with all other entities retaining their blue checkmarks, as early as December 2. A separate tweet also stated that individuals could have a secondary logo for any organizations they may be a part of.[41] Continuing from Musk's idea of company employees receiving an icon for their employers, Twitter announced Blue for Business on December 19. In spite of an official release, venture capital firm Craft Ventures appeared to already have the icons.[42]

The rollout of government labels resulted in the accounts of Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and minister of foreign affairs Anniken Huitfeldt being labeled as affiliated with Nigeria.[43] On January 5, Fowler was once again able to impersonate Markey, with Barreto Fetterman, senator John Fetterman's wife, thanking the impersonator rather than Markey himself. The report defied Musk's claim that Twitter Blue subscribers would be manually verified and shows how impersonators still persist on the platform despite phone number verification and wait times.[44]

State-affiliated media label controversy

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On April 5, 2023, the Twitter account for National Public Radio (NPR) received a label that it was "state-affiliated", despite the fact it receives less than 1% of its funding from the government; Voice of America (VOA), a state-affiliated media arm of the United States, did not receive a label. NPR CEO John Lansing condemned Twitter for the labeling.[45] A similar label was added to Public Broadcasting Station's (PBS) Twitter account on April 8. According to PBS, the broadcaster has no intention to use its Twitter account after receiving the label.[46] NPR announced it had quit Twitter on April 12 after the label was changed to "government-affiliated".[47] The decision was a reversal of the company's previous treatment towards NPR, which it cited as an example of a public news organization that is not state-affiliated.[48] The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also received a government-affiliated label, but appealed to Musk.[49] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) received a label stating it was "69% government-funded", in apparent reference to the sex position, after Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre told Musk to apply the label. The CBC is 66% government-funded, and stopped tweeting after the incident.[50]

On April 22, Twitter dropped the state-affiliated and government-affiliated labels entirely, including for Russia's RT and China's Xinhua News and China Global Television Network (CGTN). According to Musk, the idea to drop the labels came from author Walter Isaacson.[51] The removal of the state-affiliated label followed a change in Twitter's algorithm, in which restrictions on accounts belonging to Russian state media were lifted. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan congratulated Musk on lifting the restrictions on her account.[52]

Verification status removals

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The New York Times

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According to internal messages obtained by The Information, Twitter planned to offer verification for businesses for US$1,000 a month, with an additional US$50 a month for accounts affiliated with the business.[53] Ahead of the official release of Verification for Organizations, newspaper The New York Times stated that it would not pay for a verification checkmark.[54] In response to a Twitter user who pointed out the newspaper's decision, Musk stated, "Oh ok, we'll take it off then". Musk then called The New York Times hypocritical for charging readers to read its articles.[55] According to The New York Times themselves, the top 10,000 Twitter accounts and top 500 advertisers would be exempt from paying.[56]

Legacy verified accounts

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Avatar of Stephen King
Avatar of Stephen King
 Stephen King
@StephenKing
 Twitter logo, a stylized blue bird

My Twitter account says I've subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven't.
My Twitter account says I've given a phone number. I haven't.

April 20, 2023[57]

On March 23, Twitter announced it would remove blue checkmarks from "legacy" verified accounts on April 1, or April Fools' Day.[58] Twitter subsequently stopped distinguishing Twitter Blue subscribers from legacy verified accounts on April 2.[59] On April 19, the Twitter Verified account tweeted that, on April 20, legacy verified checkmarks would disappear, in apparent reference to the cannabis slang number 420; Musk had previously tweeted about the April 20 date on April 11.[60]

On April 20, legacy verified accounts lost their blue checkmarks. While some representatives lost verification on their personal accounts, such as Ilhan Omar and Brian Mast, others, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, still have a blue checkmark on their personal accounts. According to an email obtained by The Washington Post from April 26, members of Congress will lose blue checkmarks on their personal and campaign accounts in May.[61] Actress Halle Berry posted a meme commemorating the loss of her blue checkmark. Several figures, such as Stephen King, noted that they had not paid for verification and—in King's case—had not added a phone number to their account. Musk later clarified that he was "paying for a few [subscriptions] personally", such as for actor William Shatner, LeBron James, and King. Pope Francis' blue checkmark was removed before being replaced by a gray checkmark; as the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope is the sovereign of Vatican City.[62] While some users, such as Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat appear to have been given verification for free, others, such as actor Ryan Reynolds—whose Twitter account has 21 million followers—do not.[63] NBC News noted that legacy verified accounts still appeared in search results filtering for just verified users.[64] By April 23, fewer than 500 users had signed up for Twitter Blue out of the 400,000 legacy verified accounts.[65] The far-right political party Britain First received a gold checkmark, signifying that it was a business, while its leader, Paul Golding, has a blue checkmark.[66] According to researcher Nima Owji, Twitter will allow users who have received Twitter Blue for free to cancel their subscription.[67]

The Washington Post noted that several deceased individuals, such as basketball player Kobe Bryant, actor Chadwick Boseman, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, and Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington[68] had a blue checkmark. Other figures with blue checkmarks include singer Michael Jackson, rapper Mac Miller, and senator John McCain. Many users noticed that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had a blue checkmark, despite being assassinated in 2018 by the government of Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi's checkmark resulted in an outcry from users of the site. The blue checkmark does not state whether or not it has been gifted or bought.[69]

Further impersonation attempts

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Coinciding with the 2023 Sudan conflict, an account posing as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed that its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, died in the conflict, as the legitimate RSF Twitter account was unverified.[70] Other tweets made by impersonators include an account posing as politician Hillary Clinton declaring a supposed presidential bid in 2024, author J.K. Rowling apologizing for comments she made against transgender people, Pope Francis stating there are "at least three genders", Florida governor Ron DeSandis [sic] calling political donor Kent Sturmon a pedophile, singer Olivia Rodrigo taking credit for a fan-fiction post on Wattpad, and skater Tony Hawk talking about building a skate park in Des Moines, Iowa. Security researcher John Scott-Railton noted a potential rise in impersonation accounts of government agencies, such as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) branches and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, as their Twitter accounts are unverified.[71] One tweet, supposedly from cuisine publication The New York Times Cooking, attracted attention for sharing a meme recipe of a hand-shaped M&M cookie atop Greek salad, dubbed "King's Hand".[72] Comedian Kelly Carlin claimed her deceased father—comedian George Carlin, for whom she runs an account—was being impersonated.[52] In a separate instance of impersonation, a parody account for Disney Junior in the United Kingdom was verified as a business. The account, which repeatedly used racial slurs and claimed that the adult animated series South Park and Family Guy would appear on Disney Junior, was suspended after Disney found the account.[73]

The removal of blue checkmarks has had a political impact. Taking advantage of the removal of the blue checkmarks for the Twitter accounts for Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago Department of Transportation, and the Illinois Department of Transportation, false accounts began appearing claiming that the major expressway Lake Shore Drive would close next month for private traffic.[74] Similarly, an impostor account appeared after the New York City Government account tweeted that it was official.[75] New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned of potential harm in misinformation after the encounter.[71] At least eleven accounts claiming to be the Los Angeles Police Department appeared in the wake of the removal of blue checkmarks. An account claiming to be New York City mayor Eric Adams promised to create a Department of Traffic and Parking Enforcement while slashing funding for the New York City Police Department; the operator of the account was later discovered to be Josh Boerman, co-host of the podcast The Worst of All Possible Worlds, who claimed to have made the account in jest.[52] Election offices for four of the most populous counties in the United States—Cook County, Illinois, Harris County, Texas, Maricopa County, Arizona, and San Diego County, California—were unverified. In particular, Maricopa County has been targeted by conspiracy theorists for alleged irregularities in how the county voted in the 2020 presidential election; the county's ballots were audited by Republicans in 2021, finding no such claims of voter fraud.[76] Ahead of the 2023 Philadelphia mayoral election and the Pennsylvania primary election, the account for the Philadelphia City Commissioners was unverified, leading to several verified accounts impersonating the commissioners.[77]

On May 22, an account aligned with the QAnon conspiracy theory posted an image generated by artificial intelligence that seemingly depicted an explosion near the Pentagon. The fake image was amplified by the Russian propaganda television network RT and the far-right blog Zero Hedge. A verified account posing as Bloomberg News then posted the claim accompanied by several other verified accounts. The S&P 500 fell sharply as a result of the news before rebounding.[78][79][80] Several Indian news outlets, including Zee News and Republic TV, aired false reports about the supposed explosion.[81][80]

Reactions

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Individuals

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The removal of the blue checkmark and Twitter Blue have sparked controversy. Actress Alyssa Milano added to her Twitter profile that she would not be paying for Twitter Blue. The Twitter account for Elmo tweeted that, "Elmo will miss you, little blue check mark". The blue checkmark has also caused crosscurrents between Twitter users, with technology journalist Joanna Stern writing that she "likes editing tweets", and appears to have distanced herself from the blue checkmark. Morning Consult journalist Bobby Blanchard asked Twitter to remove his blue checkmark.[82] Other personalities and entities appeared confused as to why their blue checkmarks appeared despite not subscribing to Twitter Blue, such as journalist Maggie Haberman, actors Ben Schwartz and Elijah Wood, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Twitter account for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum clarified that it had not paid for Twitter Blue either.[83] Model Chrissy Teigen compared her blue checkmark to the film It Follows (2014) and was able to get hers removed by changing her username, telling speechwriter Jon Favreau. Favreau later stated that he believed Musk was "capricious" in his actions and did not want to be potentially suspended for unverifying his account.[84] Likewise, stand-up comedian and actor Patton Oswalt changed his username to remove his blue checkmark.[85] dril, part of Twitter's secretive list of users to promote and of "Weird Twitter", removed his blue checkmark by changing his display name to "slave to Woke".[86] Replying to economist Paul Krugman, who wrote that he did not pay for Twitter Blue, Musk replied with an image of a child crying while eating spaghetti.[87] Doja Cat said that having a blue checkmark "means theres [sic] a higher chance that you're a complete loser".[88]

At the premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), actor Jack Black stated that, "It's definitely not cool to pay for it". Similarly, singer Jacob Sartorius, who appreciated receiving a blue checkmark in 2016, said, "It's not something that’s cool anymore".[89] Black's co-star Chris Pratt showed apathy towards the blue checkmark.[90] Similarly, rapper Ice Spice and vocalist Ice-T showed no interest towards the blue checkmark. To the contrary, actor Jason Alexander said that he would leave if his verification was removed. Minnesota Twins play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer left Twitter after losing his verification; Bremer was drawn into Twitter after a parody account used his name and likeness to post racist tweets.[91] Actor Bella Ramsey left the platform after the removal of blue checkmarks.[92] Singer Dionne Warwick, actor Ian McKellen, and rapper Lil Nas X outright stated that they refuse to pay for the blue checkmark, as actors Mark Hamill and Ben Stiller, activist Monica Lewinsky, singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, and journalist Kara Swisher suggested they would.[93][94] Stand-up comedian Mike Drucker congratulated Twitter for implementing paid verification, writing, "Some users on Twitter were starting to confuse me for the type of person who'd pay $8 a month to feel special. It was embarrassing".[95] Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared on Bluesky a week after legacy blue checkmarks were removed.[96]

After beseeching Musk, actor Charlie Sheen regained his checkmark.[97] Musician Sean Ono Lennon showed confusion towards celebrities who refused to pay for Twitter Blue.[98] Ardent supporters of Musk have defended Twitter Blue, particularly noting its price point. Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, entrepreneur David O. Sacks, and essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb placed immense value into the subscription while tweeting about it, with Taleb calling those who pay for other products and services monthly but not Twitter Blue "domain dependent misers!" Right-wing Twitter user Catturd called critics of Twitter Blue "elitist snobs".[99]

#BlockTheBlue

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The removal of blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts inspired the hashtag #BlockTheBlue, in which users block any users they see with a blue checkmark, with Eve 6 bassist Max Collins taking part in the hashtag. A Twitter account for the hashtag was created before being abruptly taken down.[100] dril, who originated the #BlockTheBlue campaign, spoke to Mashable's Matt Binder, writing, "blocking [Twitter Blue subscribers] and encouraging others to do the same on a massive scale is the complete opposite of what they want".[101] Conversely, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote, "People in this #BlockTheBlue pressure campaign are losers and goons", with Musk replying with, "Exactly". Sweeney has been an outspoken critic of verification since 2018.[102]

Organizations

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In response to Verification for Organizations, various news organizations—including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, Politico, and Vox Media sites—stated that they would not pay for Twitter verification for their employees. CNN said that it would not pay for employee verification status except for some staff members.[103] The White House has no intentions to pay for checkmarks for their employees, according to Axios.[104]

The Twitter account for Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom posted a meme of The Boys character Homelander pushing his son off a roof, with Homelander labeled as Twitter and his son labeled as a blue checkmark.[105] Law blog SCOTUSblog stopped posting on Twitter entirely after it lost its checkmark.[106]

Analysis

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Northeastern University School of Law professor Alexandra Roberts argued that Twitter's claim that certain individuals paid for Twitter Blue may violate state and federal false representation laws, such as the Lanham Act, popularized through a retweet by dril, but reserved that Twitter was not making a direct advertisement. Solicitor Simon McGarr mentioned that Twitter's insistence on the blue checkmark for some users, such as dril, may violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, as verifying accounts requires a phone number. McGarr also noted Tolley v. Fry, a 1931 court case filed against chocolate bar manufacturer J. S. Fry & Sons by golfer Cyril Tolley alleging that the advertising of chocolate bars with a caricature of Tolley was defamatory, or the similar case Eddie Irvine v. Talksport between racing driver Eddie Irvine and sports radio station Talksport.[107] Other scholars have cited the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, while some have pointed to the disdain for blue checkmarks and the potential effects of the checkmark on celebrities' reputations.[108] The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has not commented on Twitter Blue, although an anonymous former FTC official called it "deceptive".[98]

Misinformation

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Following the initial implementation of paid verification, the Twitter account for the anti-vaccine propaganda film Died Suddenly (2022) became verified. The account has been used to spread medical misinformation, including of COVID-19 vaccines.[109] The removal of blue checkmarks has also been seen as "chaos for emergency services", according to Marc-André Argentino, a research fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization.[52] Paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill and Berkeley Earth scientist Robert Rohde were also unverified, presenting a changing landscape for climate scientists on Twitter.[110] Pro-Russian Twitter accounts used verification to sow doubt over the true nature of the 2023 Ohio train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.[111]

References

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