The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the gold “verified” badge from the New York Times’ account amid ongoing complaints about the news organization from X owner Elon Musk.
The move further extends Musk’s attempts to use the social media company he bought with claims of defending free speech to undercut news organizations he dislikes.
In April, after Musk bought the company for $44 billion, X ended its years-old system of giving badges to politicians, journalists and other public figures whose identity it had verified.
After The Post reported on the delay, X removed it for the Times without explanation but kept it in place for other X competitors, including Facebook, Instagram, Substack and Bluesky, according to a technical analysis from the news outlet The Markup.
That steep drop outpaces an industry-wide slowdown in referrals to top news sites from X and Facebook this year, according to industry data from the analytics firm Similarweb first reported by Axios.
In the months since Musk bought X, the social media site has cut back on content moderation, suspended journalists, reinstated neo-Nazis and threatened to file defamation lawsuits against critics such as the Anti-Defamation League.
The original article contains 774 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the gold “verified” badge from the New York Times’ account amid ongoing complaints about the news organization from X owner Elon Musk.
The move further extends Musk’s attempts to use the social media company he bought with claims of defending free speech to undercut news organizations he dislikes.
In April, after Musk bought the company for $44 billion, X ended its years-old system of giving badges to politicians, journalists and other public figures whose identity it had verified.
After The Post reported on the delay, X removed it for the Times without explanation but kept it in place for other X competitors, including Facebook, Instagram, Substack and Bluesky, according to a technical analysis from the news outlet The Markup.
That steep drop outpaces an industry-wide slowdown in referrals to top news sites from X and Facebook this year, according to industry data from the analytics firm Similarweb first reported by Axios.
In the months since Musk bought X, the social media site has cut back on content moderation, suspended journalists, reinstated neo-Nazis and threatened to file defamation lawsuits against critics such as the Anti-Defamation League.
The original article contains 774 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!