ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan took to Instagram to break MLB free agency news Saturday morning.
The move came after what was a week from hell for Twitter after Elon Musk’s rollout of the Twitter Blue verification program had been an absolute disaster.
Twitter faced immense backlash as fake accounts began impersonating companies and people. Ultimately, Musk suspended the Twitter Blue service to try and assess the situation. It’s unclear how long the suspension will last.
The sports media industry was especially affected. Fake accounts with the blue checkmark verification started making up stories. No one knew what was real or not.
WAIT… IS INSTAGRAM SUDDENLY COOL AGAIN?
Passan posted on his Instagram account that free agent relief pitcher Rafael Montero agreed to a three-year deal with the Houston Astros. He then posted the news on his Twitter account, while mentioning Twitter’s uncertain future.
TWITTER VERIFICATION PROGRAM IS CURRENTLY A MESS
Passan is one of the most respected and well-known baseball reporters out there. One can’t downplay the significance if he and other reporters start using Instagram to post breaking news rather than Twitter.
This past week, Twitter began the rollout of its new Twitter Blue subscription service.
Anyone who paid $7.99 was given premium options, including a blue verified checkmark. However, Twitter approved too many accounts without doing any significant background check, leading to an influx of fake accounts. All of a sudden, verified accounts impersonating everyone from LeBron James to pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly began tweeting out fake news.
Many people use Twitter as a place to get their news. If the platform’s integrity becomes compromised, then users will start looking elsewhere.
Time will tell if Instagram will be their destination.
