White House says won’t pay for Twitter Blue verification

The White House, the residency of the US (United States) President, has said that it will not pay for official blue tick Twitter account verification of its staff. White House staff will have to spend their own money on Twitter in order to keep the blue verification check marks on the social media account.

On Friday, the White House sent an email to employees, saying it won’t be subscribing to Twitter Blue. Rob Flaherty, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Digital Strategy of the White House, said that Twitter Blue checkmark does not provide personal level verification as a service because people can now purchase the verification. 

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A source familiar with the White House said that the email sent to staff at the White House doesn’t necessarily apply to government agencies. Rob Flaherty wrote in an email, “Staff may purchase Twitter Blue on their personal social media accounts using personal funds.”

Reportedly, some US news outlets also said that they would not pay for any type of subscription to Twitter. Oliver Darcy, a senior media reporter for CNN, reportedly said, “We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for verification of our institutional Twitter accounts.” The New York Times, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have informed media staff that they will not be paying for Twitter Blue verification. 

In March, Elon Musk announced that Twitter would begin removing legacy verified checkmarks from April 1. Twitter warned users to pay $8 monthly for verified blue ticks. 

According to the new policy, Twitter will remove the blue checkmarks from social media accounts that don’t pay the $8 monthly subscription fee.

After taking over the microblogging site in October 2022, Musk announced several changes, including the option for users to purchase a blue tick verification badge. Musk also fired some Twitter employees.