White House refuses to pay for Twitter’s blue verification

As per a report in Axios, White House director of digital strategy, Rob Flaherty, has sent guidance to the staffers via an email that the White House will not pay to have its staff’s official Twitter profiles continue to be verified.

It is our understanding that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service,” Flaherty said.

“Thus, a blue check mark will now simply serve as a verification that the account is a paid user. Staff may purchase Twitter Blue on their personal social media accounts using personal funds,” he added.

However, Axios report noted that the guidance doesn’t apply to government agencies, but there might be a possibility that other agencies and departments would be given similar directives in the future.

White House officials rely on their verified accounts to disseminate information to the public on behalf of the administration. Verification, combined with the designated Twitter profiles, help maintain the authenticity of those messages, and are trusted by the people.