In Baffling Move, The Huffington Post Erects Paywall Solely For NYT Employees

In a move sure to irk at least two or three people who work for The New York Times, The Huffington Post (owned by AOL, our own masters in some degree of command) has put up a paywall that applies only to NYT employees.

In a message to affected potential readers of HuffPost content, founder Arianna Huffington explains that NYT employees can henceforth access only one article for free per month.

If they’d like to read more letters or view some slideshows of cute kittens, they can subscribe to one of the media company’s NYT Employee Digital Subscription Plans®.

According to people familiar with the matter, all people at the NYT building today who try to access The Huffington Post won’t be able to.

Dear New York Times Employee, thank you for visiting The Huffington Post!

We hope you’ve enjoyed your one free article this month.

As you may know, we are now charging New York Times employees for unlimited access to our content. You can come back next month for another free article or choose one of our NYT Employee Digital Subscription Plans ®.

In our most popular plan, Times employees can view the first 6 letters of each word at no charge (including slideshows of adorable kittens). After 6 letters, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber.

Subscribing is quick and easy.

Unfortunately for those interested in subscribing, the HuffPost’s payment server, curiously named April Fools, is currently unavailable.