MTA Stops Tweeting Service Alerts Amid Twitter's Blue Check Chaos

NEW YORK CITY — The MTA stopped tweeting service alerts Thursday night amid recent "blue check" chaos and Twitter's reported demand of a $50,000 fee.

Shanifah Rieara, the MTA's acting chief customer officer, confirmed the decision was motivated by concerns not dissimilar to those of New York City subway riders, namely a hefty fee for unreliable service.

"The MTA does not pay tech platforms to publish service information," Rieara said. "The reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed."

Rather than tweet real-time alerts about delays and service changes, the MTA will update riders on its homepage, the MYmta and TrainTime apps, emails and texts, officials said.

The MTA's decision comes as Twitter grapples with a controversial decision charge for blue checks confirming accounts — whether from a government agency or a celebrity such as Stephen King — are legitimate.

Twitter users now must pay fees ranging from $8 to thousands of dollars a month.

New York City government agencies scrambled last week to assure Twitter users that they were on the up-and-up. Amid the chaos, at least one impostor account sprang up and impersonated the city's official account.

Twitter reportedly floated the $50,000-a-month fee for the MTA to maintain access to the company's application programming interface, or API.

MTA officials, however, said their access to Twitter through its API was involuntarily interrupted twice on April 14 and April 27.

The MTA's Twitter accounts, including its @nyct_subway, will remain active for users to tweet with questions and requests for help, officials said.

Straphangers, clinging to tradition, took to Twitter to complain.

"Noooo, @NYCTSubway," replied Dev Weissner. "I thought we had a great thing going here, you and I."