White House refuses to pay for Twitter's Blue verification: report

As Elon Musk gears up to start removing legacy verified Blue check marks from Saturday, the White House is reportedly not going to pay to have its staff's official Twitter profiles continue to be verified.

According to a report in Axios, White House director of digital strategy, Rob Flaherty, has sent guidance to the staffers via an email.

"It is our understanding that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service. Thus, a blue check mark will now simply serve as a verification that the account is a paid user," the email read.


The guidance doesn't necessarily apply to government agencies, but according to the report, citing a source familiar with White House plans, it may send guidance to some agencies and departments in the future.

Some White House officials, like the President and Vice President, will likely continue to be verified with a grey checkmark.

In his email, Flaherty said that as per Twitter's updated policies, it will no longer be able to guarantee verification for federal agency accounts that do not meet its new eligibility requirements.

Meanwhile, the micro-blogging platform Twitter on Friday announced that its 'Verification for Organisations' service is now available globally.

According to the company, Verified Organisations is a new way for organisations and their affiliates to differentiate themselves on the micro-blogging platform.

Accounts, which are affiliated with the organisation, will receive an affiliate badge on their profile with the business's logo, and will also be featured on the organisation's Twitter profile, showing their connection.

"All organisations are vetted before they can join Verified Organisations," the company mentioned.

'Verification for Organisations' service was earlier called 'Blue for Business'.