Earlier today we reported that Michael Ian Black thought only certain privileged and important people should be verified on Twitter …
Hey @jack: very active user, 2.1M followers here: this is disgusting. Verifying white supremacists reinforces the increasing belief that your site is a platform for hate speech. I don't want to give up Twitter, but I may have to. Who do you value more, users like me or him? https://t.co/5ymcNfFvH0
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) November 9, 2017
As you can imagine, this didn’t go over very well. Black accused Twitter of endorsing people they verify, claiming that they were somehow more important than lowly Tweeps who haven’t been verified.
Luckily Twitter itself found the time and energy to seemingly subtweet Michael Ian Black and his assumption that Twitter is verifying people based on the opinions they value.
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
Man, we hope this was a subtweet.
EL OH EL.
@michaelianblack https://t.co/LjCpqJEXyX
— (((I Can't Even))) (@szysgt) November 9, 2017
Ok, Twitter subtweeting Michael Ian Black may be the funniest damn thing on the social media site today. And we’re sure they’d say they weren’t subtweeting him but c’mon … that’s awfully convenient timing.
Easy solution: Unverify everyone but me.
— Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) November 9, 2017
Clearly.
My account was rejected verification. I'm using my real name. I'm advocating for a public company and I'm a public speaker. I want to be able to validate my identity so that people know they are talking to a real-life person.
— Maxime Rouiller (@MaximRouiller) November 9, 2017
Only one of Twitchy’s editors has been approved for verification … hard not to question why Twitter verifies who they do.
Yeah, but it’s interesting who you choose to verify. I’ve been turned down three times.
— Erin Maher ? (@theerinmaher) November 9, 2017
Which makes Michael Ian Black’s whining about the verification process seem even DUMBER.
And we didn’t think that was possible.
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