Twitter has begun removing verifications from far-right figures after facing a backlash for offering blue check marks to an American white supremacist.
Among the people to lose the symbol under new guidelines were white supremacist leader Jason Kessler, white nationalist figure Richard Spencer, Tommy Robinsonof the far-right English Defence League and conservative activist Laura Loomer, who was recently banned from Uber and Left for tweets disparaging Muslims. It suspended the account of a prominent troll known as “Baked Alaska”.
Earlier this month, the social media site confronted an uproar for verifying the account of Mr Kessler, who helped organise a demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia that left a woman dead after a car ploughed into a crowd of counter-protesters.
Twitter responded to outrage by saying it would overhaul its procedures, noting that its system for granting blue check marks next to the names of prominent users was meant to “authenticate identity & voice” but had been “interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance”. CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledged that “the system is broken and needs to be reconsidered”.
After acknowledging on Wednesday that it had “verified people who we in no way endorse”, Twitter said it had updated its policies to allow it to remove verifications from people who violate its guidelines.
Offences that could merit removal would include “inciting or engaging in harassment of others” and “promoting hate and/or violence against, or directly attacking or threatening other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease,” the site said in a blog post.
Soon after the announcement, blue check marks began vanishing from controversial accounts.
Adam Rivera
The most important thing you can do for the white race is keep your own life in order. Start with yourself. You must be competent, reliable, hardworking, and, above all, happy. Do people in your life trust and respect you? What does your family think of you? Are you capable of raising children? Racial politics doesn't have to be the only factor of your life. And if you can't achieve such things for yourself, then the chances are very high that you are not ready to be a political activist, either online or in real life. Because how can you make a difference for the race, for the lives of many, if you can't even make anything of your own, individual life? How can you make a real difference in society, when the greatest extent of your capacity is to be out-organized by jews on social media?
Always remember: we live in first world countries and have opportunity that most people born on this planet do not. Things aren't as good for us as they were for our parents. But billions of people in the third world would still kill to have the opportunities that you do right now. So take care of yourself! Work your ass off, every day, to build a good life for you, and for your family. Clear your mind of self destructive thoughts, and keep yourself focused on realistic goals. Work hard, but also do fun and wholesome things with real people in real life. That's very important. Nothing on the internet should ever take away from your real life.
Chase King
Oh, no. Not the blue checkmarks!
Lucas Gomez
I thought the whole point of being verified was so whoever viewed it on twitter knew that it was actually from that person, instead of some shitty troll account?
Jeremiah Howard
Good job Jason, you dun went and fucked up again. I'm beginning to think the Jason Kessler is a cuck.
Ethan Nguyen
Baked Alaska got suspended? Christ, why? I don't remember seeing him Tweet anything that violated their terms.
Aiden Baker
When leftists are losing the debate: SHUT IT DOWN
"hate speech" - speech liberals hate
Parker Lee
Did he ever link his streams of him bothering strangers? That could qualify.
Oliver Smith
Twitter s a private company and tje Service is it's property. Why has 0 of the so called master race made something like Twitter for racists and incels?
Joshua Flores
They did, it's called Gab and nobody uses it.
David Sanders
twitter is fucked for dissidents come nov 22. new user terms
Lucas Johnson
>It's a debate if I say fuck "x" Lmao sorry conservatives but you are FUCKED, always bragging about the day of rope, so unaware it'll be you and your capitilist ilk hanging from the lamp posts
Jayden Robinson
...
Aaron Diaz
>tfw been reporting anti-white tweets non stop
Brandon Butler
>your capitalist ilk
The only reason Twitter can do this is the Twitter CEO owns the servers and can impose his lib-left views on millions of people.
Colton James
Apparently it is just a checkmark to say that this person is jew-approved or something
idk wtf runs through the twitter developer minds. They're practically schizophrenic
Jackson Rogers
First they ignore you Then they laugh at you Then they fight you
Jason Moore
Should push to get Trump's verified removed.
Lucas Evans
It is ok to be white brah.
David Long
America was built on the idea of white supremacy and there's nothing wring with that
Adrian Campbell
Silence is not an answer
Justin Hill
Twitter is a leftist echo-chamber. It's been banning conservatives for years, and it's full of leftist bots that mass-report conservatives that remotely trigger them. Leftists don't want unrestricted speech in order to reach objective truth, they just want to be comfy in their faggy bubble. I wish leftists could go some thick skin and not get triggered by different opinions. As a right-winger I've had to comb through 6 gorillian posts on social media that shat on my beliefs and my race/nation, but I never got triggered and demanded that leftist speech be outlawed. Leftists are just massive pussies.
Also, calling Baked Alaska a troll just to shut him up is underhanded. There are leftists/niggers/Jews who've said way worse things about white people and conservatives, and they're still lurking Twitter without so much as a slap on the wrist.
Caleb Diaz
But in this case it's justified. Spencer should be hanging from a noose not spilling his retardation all over twitter.
Jace Howard
>"bothering strangers"
AKA asking dumb leftists high-level questions and watching them stutter.
Jonathan Anderson
As a Jew, happening upon this website today has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. I used to think that the left was exaggerating about the level of racism out there. Sure, I've always known about the underlying biases and prejudices that white people have. Part of being Jewish is being faced with those realities every day. But this level of bigotry and outright vitriol towards myself and my family merely because of the race we were born into? It truly is sickening to realize that there are people like this out there in the world. I guess this has reaffirmed what I've always known deep down. If whites are not controlled they will be free to become the hateful beasts they truly are. I can definitely say that my drive to stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters against bigotry and white supremacy is stronger than ever, so thank you for showing me today who you truly are.
Jordan Reyes
Money
Jackson Lewis
You can't download gab from app stores making it basically useless
You can't downkoad gab from AppStore making it useless
Look if you can't use it on your phone it's prohibitive for social media usage
Andrew Perez
As a Muslim, happening upon your post today has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. I used to think that the left was exaggerating about the level of racism out there. Sure, I've always known about the underlying biases and prejudices that Jewish people have. Part of being Muslim is being faced with those realities every day. But this level of bigotry and outright vitriol towards myself and my family merely because of the race we were born into? It truly is sickening to realize that there are people like this out there in the world. I guess this has reaffirmed what I've always known deep down. If Jews are not controlled they will be free to become the hateful beasts they truly are. I can definitely say that my drive to stand with my Muslim brothers and sisters against bigotry and Jewish aggression is stronger than ever, so thank you for showing me today who you truly are.
Chase Perry
This is good, the blue check is now like the yellow star. You know which tweet to discard immediately
Tyler Davis
They need to replace the blue check marks with something more fitting.
Jason Watson
Fuck off. Cous em ek. People like you create all this division with your idiotic justice crusader like bullshit. American Jews with your kumbaya Marxist cancer infecting everything, seeing 'isms in your soup.
David Taylor
Kek
Brandon Gray
Twitter's big mistake was in making verified people a sort of superuser with extra benefits and tools.
It should be used to verify anybody's identity (famous or regular normie) and that's it