Giants Baseball Insider

SF Giants are NOT paying for gold checkmark on Twitter

The SF Giants told Giants Baseball Insider that they are not paying Twitter $1,000 a month for Apartheid Clyde's gold check mark.
Marc Delucchi|
SF Giants are NOT paying for gold checkmark on Twitter
SF Giants are NOT paying for gold checkmark on Twitter

In this story:

San Francisco Giants

The SF Giants are not paying for a gold check mark on Twitter, the team told Giants Baseball Insider. According to the team, the account was transitioned from the previous blue "legacy" check to gold without consulting the organization. The gold check highlighted one of Twitter CEO Elon Musk's latest desperate ploys to generate revenue for the company.

All 30 MLB teams currently have gold checkmarks on their account, although the Giants were one of only 20 MLB teams with a checkmark in the first week of the gold check rollout. At that point, six teams had a blue checkmark (Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals)-suggesting they had subscribed to Twitter Blue, and four (Baltimore Orioles, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, and Miami Marlins) had no checkmark whatsoever.

Twitter is charging account holders $1,000 per month ($12,000 annually) for the gold checkmark. While the gold check is advertised as solely for companies, Twitter has not revealed any verification steps suggesting that is insured. To attempt to legitimize the cash grab, Twitter did give certain prominent business accounts, like the Giants, the gold check automatically. In the process of giving out some of those Gold check marks, Twitter accidentally gave a check to a fake/parody Disney Junior UK account.

Apartheid Clyde, so nicknamed for his family's historic ownership of an emerald mine in South Africa, purchased Twitter for more than $40 billion last year, significantly more than anyone thought the company was worth. Since his takeover, Musk has sent advertisers fleeing with mass layoffs that have created questions about the site's cybersecurity and policy changes that have empowered right-wing extremists. Earlier this week, Twitter hired far-right commentator Tucker Carlson, who was recently fired by Fox News.

Given several SF Giants owners' penchant for supporting far-right/fascist political candidates it seemed within reason that the organization had supported Musk's endeavor. However, according to the team, the team is not spending four figures a month on his

Published
Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

Share on XFollow maddelucchi
Home/San Francisco Giants News