The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, BuzzFeed,
, and Vox all scoffed at the notion on Thursday that they would pay Twitter for the feature, which has been free since it was introduced years ago but will soon be phased out. CNN said it has no intention of paying for Twitter’s subscription service for its accounts but would make a few exceptions for some key staff.
additionally said it will not pay for Twitter Blue. “In the future, a checkmark will no longer mean you are a verified journalist,” Anita Kumar, senior editor of standards and ethics at , told the newsroom in a memo. “Instead, it will simply mean you are paying for benefits such as longer tweets and fewer ads.”