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In a savage move, Elon Musk has taken away the verified check mark of The New York Times on Twitter. This comes after Musk accused the publication of publishing “fake news propaganda.”

A crackdown by Twitter CEO Elon Musk on users who avoid payments for “Twitter Blue” cost the New York Times its verified status on Sunday.

In an announcement on Mar. 23, Musk and the Twitter Verified account announced that verified users had until Apr. 1 to reapply. People and organizations whose subscriptions aren’t paid will lose their blue check mark and verified status; it costs $8 per month for individuals and $1,000 per month for organizations.

Musk revealed in a tweet response that this could include the New York Times if it refuses to subscribe. After that, the publication’s main Twitter account lost its verified status.

Musk tweeted: “The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting.”

In another tweet, he added: “Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable. They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles. Same applies to all publications.”

He later called the New York Times “hypocritical” for asking people to pay for their subscription while refusing to do the same for Twitter.

Musk wrote: “NY Times is being incredible hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay *their* subscription.”

According to a Friday New York Times tech article, the publication will not pay for its verified badge nor reimburse its journalists for the status.

The article stated: “The New York Times, which has nearly 55 million followers on Twitter, said on Thursday that it would not pay for the verified badge for its institutional accounts, including @nytimes. The Times also told its journalists that it would not reimburse them for a Twitter Blue subscription, except in rare cases when it was necessary for reporting.” 

While Musk’s actions have been criticized by some as an abuse of power, others see it as a bold statement against the media’s tendency to misrepresent the facts when reporting on important issues. Meanwhile, as the debate over what constitutes “fake news” continues to rage on, it’s more important than ever to demand transparency and accountability from those who claim to report the truth.

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