Twitter and The New York Times locked horns over the weekend after the news publication refused to pay the US$1,000 a month fee for verification.
The paper, which has over 55mln followers on Twitter, was stripped of its verified status on Sunday.
Under the new rules implemented by Elon Musk at the social media company, businesses would need to pay US$1,000 per month in return for a gold-verified status, while individuals would need to fork out US$ 8 per month.
Verified status was, prior to Musk's takeover, free for recognised and established organisations and individuals.
The NYT announced it not be paying the fee last Thursday, alongside other outlets such as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Buzzfeed.
However, the Tesla and Twitter boss seemed to take offence at NYT’s refusal, replying that “we’ll take it off then” on Saturday night before removing its verified status on Sunday morning.
Musk also claimed that the publication was being “incredibly hypocritical” for refusing to pay the monthly fee while charging its own readers subscription fees and that the paper was “propaganda.”
The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
Organisations aren’t alone in refusing to pay for verification on the site, with celebrities Lebron James, Chrissy Teigen and rapper Ice-T all suggesting they would not pay the US$8-per-month to be verified.