Checking on the Boundaries: Twitter’s Verification Changes as a Credibility Contest

Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in late 2022 led to major shifts on a platform that journalists had spent years inhabiting and adapting their practices to fit. Among the most significant of these changes was to the platform’s verification policies, symbolized by the blue check mark, which under Musk changed from a symbolic acknowledgment of reliability to a subscription product. This textual analysis of media coverage around the verification changes and controversies finds examples of boundary work, as Musk sought to devalue journalism’s role on the platform and in society whereas journalistic coverage and newspaper opinion content showed broad agreement with the idea that verification was a social good, they brought to the platform. This points to significant future questions about professional authority, especially as platforms start selling verification and pivoting away from news.