A double panic attack took place on Friday’s edition of the talk show Amanpour & Co, which co-airs on CNN and PBS, over Twitter chief Elon Musk no longer handing out account verifications (i.e. “blue checks”) to liberal journalists willy-nilly, but instead giving them to anyone willing to pay the fee.
Liberal journalists like the New York Times’ Paul Krugman have developed a complex over blue checkmarks, with Musk himself seeming to enjoy toying with their fragile self-regard online.
Musk’s move apparently threatens an onslaught of “disinformation.” Amanpour fill-in host Bianna Golodryga’s overwrought fears were on display in her introduction:
Golodryga: Elon Musk's new Twitter gamble. I get the latest on what removing verification badges could mean for disinformation….
The host set the table for an interview with a former Twitter executive Vivian Schiller (who was also a former executive at NPR) by warning that removing the blue checks raised “the possibility that it could unleash chaos.”
Golodryga: So, here to discuss is someone who knows Twitter quite well, the former global chair of news for the company, Vivian Schiller. The era of internet has no doubt amplified misinformation and I do want to talk to you about that, and the impact that this could possibly have on users now that these blue check marks, these verifications, have been removed. What is your reaction?
Liberal elites are impressed by their blue-check status, suggesting concerns about “misinformation” are window-dressing over their real concern, that the hoi polloi can now pay $8 a month for the mark of prestige previously reserved for themselves, although Schiller defensively denied such thinking:
Schiller: Well first of all, there's a lot of misunderstanding about what that blue check mark represents. It's perceived to be some kind of signal of the elite. But the intention of the blue check mark is simply to say that the person tweeting is who they say they are….
The former Twitter executive struck at Musk with feverish language.
Schiller: Well, Twitter has never been perfect. It had a lot of problems. But it was critical infrastructure, global infrastructure for information that Elon Musk is now systematically, frankly, vandalizing.
Host Golodryga seemed to protest too much:
Golodryga: Look, I lost my blue verification check mark, I don't really care. A lot of my colleagues did. They did as well….But it does seem that Elon Musk has it out for the media specifically….
Schiller responded amusingly, faulting Twitter for accurately describing NPR as government-funded.
SCHILLER: ….this is clearly not a revenue driver, and I think it has a lot to do with Elon Musk's frustration with the media….He's punished, for example, New York Times. He took away the New York Times' blue check mark a few weeks ago. Why? Who knows? He punished NPR by labeling them as government-funded. Well, first, you know, state, but there was different terminology that was very misleading. And while NPR is government-funded, it was clearly targeted, punitive, against some reporting that he clearly didn't like.
The liberal whining began in earnest, with Golodryga asking Schiller about Twitter “quietly rolling back some of its protections, specifically for transgender people,” including “misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
Schiller: ….the policy specifically called out transgender individuals who we already know are subject to a lot of abuse online. And by removing that line and keeping it broadly, targeting of others, it removes that added protection…
Conservatives get smeared and cursed and throttled on Twitter thousands of times a day, often by radical transgender activists. Yet it’s transgenders who require “added protection” from being called by their birth names?
A transcript is below, click "Expand" to read:
Amanpour & Co.
4/22/23
1:44 a.m. (ET)
GOLODRYGA: -- Elon Musk's new Twitter gamble. I get the latest on what removing verification badges could mean for disinformation….Well, turning now to roller-coaster ride of news that keeps coming from Twitter. Elon Musk is making good on his pledge to remove verification badges from the likes of journalists, celebrities, and academics, those who did not sign up to pay for the service. Now the decision risks confusing users over the veracity of information and who is actually behind each account. Musk was asked about removing the blue check marks and the possibility that it could unleash chaos, in an interview with the BBC last week.
ELON MUSK, CEO, TWITTER: I think the media is the driver of misinformation, much more than the media would like to admit that they are.
Interviewer: I mean, that's a different question.
MUSK: Yes. But you are sort of saying like, who knows best, the average citizen or, you know, someone who is a journalist. And I think in a lot of cases it is the average citizen that knows more than the journalist.
GOLODRYGA: So, here to discuss is someone who knows Twitter quite well, the former global chair of news for the company, Vivian Schiller. The area -- the era of internet has no doubt amplified misinformation and I do want to talk to you about that, and the impact that this could possibly have on users now that these blue check marks, these verifications, have been removed. What is your reaction?
VIVIAN SCHILLER, FORMER GLOBAL CHAIR OF NEWS, TWITTER: Well first of all, there's a lot of misunderstanding about what that blue check mark represents. It's perceived to be some kind of signal of the elite. But the intention of the blue check mark is simply to say that the person tweeting who is who they say they are. It doesn't mean that what they're tweeting is correct information, it could be false information, or that they are an important person or not an important person. It just verifies their identity. By removing that verification, this is just another move that Elon Musk has made to sort of unleash chaos on the platform. Because now, anybody can pretend to be anybody else. And, you know, some of the Twitter employees will try to take down accounts that are spoofing. But it's now a very, very difficult process.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and this isn't just a hypothetical. I just want to put up one example of just a few hours into this new move by Twitter, and you're already seeing exactly what you just laid out in real time, the New York City government had an authentic Twitter account they were representing, and all of the sudden, once they put up a tweet that said, this is authentic Twitter account representing the New York City government. This is the only account for the New York government run by the New York City government. I mean, there were responses that said, as our viewers can see, no, you're not. This account is actually the only authentic Twitter account. I mean, that's just one example. I saw one earlier of Hillary Clinton saying that she was going to be running in 2023. I mean, talk about just the impact this could have on the spread of disinformation and Twitter's potential role as a source for media and information going forward.
SCHILLER: Well, Twitter has never been perfect. It had a lot of problems. But it was critical infrastructure, global infrastructure for information that Elon Musk is now systematically, frankly, vandalizing. And by removing these verification, we're just going to continue to see exactly what you're talking about, which is anybody can pretend to be anybody else. And in fact, you can buy a blue check mark which gives you the, you know, the illusion of being a legitimate source, but it's just a transaction. So, all of a sudden, legitimate sources like, you know, the City of New York lose their verification status, which was an important signal to the audience. Some other random person can buy verification and appear to be that source. This is just day one, and we're already seeing the kind of chaos that could, ensue.
GOLODRYGA: Look, I lost my blue verification check mark, I don't really care. A lot of my colleagues did. They did as well. And so, life goes on. I mean, I still use the site. But I have to say, it is much harder to navigate. I mean, this was sort of a go-to platform for me in the morning because I had cultivated a list of people and sites that I had followed and that was my go-to information hub and I would go there first before getting confirmation or following up on a specific story. That has become that much harder. But it does seem that Elon Musk has it out for the media specifically. And while the company may say that this is another way to get more revenue, which I don't disagree with, I mean, they are sort of cash-strapped, do you think this was the only way they could have gone about it?
SCHILLER: No, clearly not. If it was just about revenue, this would be a colossal failure. Travis Brown, who is a researcher, reported – just tweeted, actually, in fact, I think it's Travis Brown, because there's no blue check mark now.
GOLODRYGA: Here we are.
SCHILLER: That in fact, since early April, there's only been a net gain of about four or five paid verification accounts. So, this is clearly not a revenue driver, and I think it has a lot to do with Elon Musk's frustration with the media. We see that manifesting in various ways. He's punished, for example, New York Times. He took away the New York Times' blue check mark a few weeks ago. Why? Who knows? He punished NPR by labeling them as government-funded. Well, first, you know, state, but there was different terminology that was very misleading. And while NPR is government-funded, it was clearly targeted punitive against some reporting that he clearly didn't like.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And then, on that note, I mean, we still have now see the Chinese, Iranian, Russian state media losing their state-affiliated warning, which had always been up as sort of, yes, exactly what that is, a warning for viewers and readers to read that knowing that this is state-sponsored and affiliated, that is all gone. So it seems that some of these sites and some of these accounts actually get more protection and are rewarded from this change while he continues, in that interview with the BBC, to say that he thinks the average citizen knows more than journalists.
SCHILLER: Well, look, all of this just points to the fact that Twitter is a declining asset. It used to be very important. Like I said, Twitter always had problems. They should have extended the verification process to anybody that could prove their identity. They should have done that a long time ago to, you know, dispense with this notion of it being sort of the elite. There were lots of issues with Twitter with spam. He said he was going to come in and fix all of that. But unfortunately, he hasn't fixed those things. And he has now broken things that were working just fine.
GOLODRYGA: And Twitter is also quietly rolling back some of its protections, specifically for transgender people. It's removed specific language involving hateful speech and its policies surrounding that. And its policy used to read, ‘Twitter prohibits targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes, or other content that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted, misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.’ That second line isn't there anymore, and that's causing a lot of concern as well. Can you speak to that?
SCHILLER: Yeah. That's right. I mean, this was -- there's a reason why, the policy specifically called out transgender individuals who we already know are subject to a lot of abuse online. And by removing that line and keeping it broadly, targeting of others, it removes that added protection and gives -- well, first of all, there aren't -- they're not nearly as many people on Twitter who are looking for harmful content as there were before he fired a great deal of them.
