We joke a lot about “blue-check Twitter” on here, but the real joke seems to be Twitter’s own implementation of the program.
As Twitchy recently reported, actor and comedian Michael Ian Black threatened to leave the service after white nationalist Jason Kessler earned a coveted blue check from Twitter. The next day, Twitter issued a statement saying that verification wasn’t meant to be seen as an endorsement.
Verification was meant to authenticate identity & voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance. We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it. We have paused all general verifications while we work and will report back soon
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 9, 2017
The people at Twitter HQ have been hard at work making the situation worse. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that it would pause verifying public accounts and introduced guidelines on removing verification from accounts.
1 / UPDATE on our verification program and the actions we're taking.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 15, 2017
2 / Verification has long been perceived as an endorsement. We gave verified accounts visual prominence on the service which deepened this perception. We should have addressed this earlier but did not prioritize the work as we should have.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 15, 2017
3 / This perception became worse when we opened up verification for public submissions and verified people who we in no way endorse.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 15, 2017
4 / We're working on a new authentication and verification program. In the meantime, we are not accepting any public submissions for verification and have introduced new guidelines for the program. https://t.co/j6P0HGXIVq
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 15, 2017
Recommended
5 / We are conducting an initial review of verified accounts and will remove verification from accounts whose behavior does not fall within these new guidelines. We will continue to review and take action as we work towards a new program we are proud of.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 15, 2017
.@Twitter announces policy on removing verification from accounts. The new rules: https://t.co/1a4i2PIIJw pic.twitter.com/GGQY3KMqxE
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) November 15, 2017
That’s right: you can lose your authenticated status if you commit suicide.
https://twitter.com/ed_baker/status/930958425466523648
So, the blue checkmark isn’t an endorsement — but if Twitter doesn’t like you using your account to “promote hate,” it can remove the blue checkmark.
You’re really bad at this https://t.co/OSDh0cUyhr
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) November 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/930954906365775873
https://twitter.com/JungleStrikeGuy/status/930930767923838977
How about you just disable verification for everyone and start from scratch? https://t.co/XOY4inLeQY
— Berrak Sarikaya ???| B2B Strategist (@BerrakBiz) November 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/RodneyRamsey/status/930928498817904641
Work. On. Other. Things. First. https://t.co/PmqFF4eyAJ
— Eric Berry??⚡️? (@trekkieb47) November 15, 2017
They did. They just introduced 50-character usernames, which everyone had been clamoring for.
https://twitter.com/TheOpulentAmish/status/930955475293585408
* * *
Related:
What could go wrong? Michael Ian Black gives @Jack an ultimatum over verification of white nationalist https://t.co/guEe1YoXMI
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 9, 2017
Join the conversation as a VIP Member