The White House will not pay employees to keep their official Twitter accounts verified, according to an Axios report.
Starting Saturday, April 1, Twitter is closing its legacy verification program and will remove blue check marks from every account that doesn’t sign up for Twitter Blue.
This means that celebrities, journalists, and even White House staffers will need to pay more than $8 a month to Twitter CEO Elon Musk if they want to keep their verified accounts.
White House officials used to have verified accounts to ensure that the public received their messages as trustworthy. However, in an email posted by Axios Friday, March 31, White House digital strategy director Rob Flaherty told staff that the government would not pay for their Twitter Blue subscriptions.
“We realize that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service. So the blue check mark will now simply act as verification that the account is for a subscription paying user,” Flaherty said, according to the report.
“Employees can purchase Twitter Blue on their personal social media accounts using their personal funds,” he added.
The White House said it will not pay for being a trusted institution, nor will it compensate employees who sign up for Twitter Blue, Axios reported.
