Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system — many of them journalists, athletes and public figures. The checks used to mean the account was verified by Twitter to be who it says it is.
CHICAGO — Twitter has long been a way for people to keep track of tornado watches, train delays, news alerts or the latest crime warnings from their local police department. this week from accounts that don’t pay a monthly fee, it left public agencies and other organizations around the world scrambling to figure out a way to show they’re trustworthy and avoid impersonators.
While Twitter is now offering gold checks for “verified organizations” and gray checks for government organizations and their affiliates, it was not always clear why some accounts had them Friday and others did not. The genuine, long-standing accounts for Lightfoot and the transportation agencies did not have a blue or gray checkmark as of Friday. Requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Susan Buchanan, director of public affairs for the weather service, said the agency is in the process of applying to get the gray check mark for government agencies. She declined to answer why some regional NWS branches lost their marks and others have them. Fewer than 5% of legacy verified accounts appear to have paid to join Twitter Blue, according to an analysis by Travis Brown, a Berlin-based developer of software for tracking social media.
Asked Friday about the German government’s continued use of Twitter, spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said: “Of course we are watching very closely what’s happening on Twitter and we continually ask ourselves if it’s right to have channels there and how they should continue.”
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