Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, recently made headlines as he declared that Twitter has become a ‘serious danger’ to traditional media. In addition, Musk recently restored the previously retired blue check mark for influential users and celebrities on the site. According to Mario Nawfal, co-founder and CEO of NFT Tech and IBC, the media outlets have faced a severe backlash from this decision.
Nawfal suggested that Twitter may have faced hypocrisy for its $8 verification process, yet no one addressed Instagram’s similar process which was almost double the price. The SpaceX launch has been successful and an incredible step forward for humanity, yet the media has seen it as a failure. He pointed out this glaring contrast between traditional media coverage and what it would have been if a similar event had occurred within NASA. Musk agreed with this criticism, concluding that Twitter forms a serious danger to the ‘ability of control the narrative’ of traditional media outlets.
Twitter has removed ‘government-funded media’ labels from all accounts belonging to traditional publications and digital news outlets following the backlash. The labels had earlier been applied to the accounts of the BBC, NPR, ABC Australia, Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service, New Zealand’s public broadcaster, Sweden’s SR Ekot and SVT and Catalonia’s TV3.cat. This decision from Twitter was necessitated after NPR decided to quit Twitter, with PBS following suit thanks to the labels given by the micro-blogging platform.
With Elon Musk at the reigns, it is not surprising that Twitter is continuing to stir up controversy. Yet, it is interesting to note the implications that arise from his decisions and how it may affect both traditional and digital media in the short and long term. Only time will tell how this relationship between traditional media and Twitter will evolve in the future.
