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'Verified' Is Now a Derogatory Term on Twitter (theoutline.com)

Posted by msmash on from the verification-game dept.

From an article on The Outline: Since 2009, Twitter has added a blue checkmark symbol to certain accounts that have been deemed "verified," which means "that an account of public interest is authentic," according to Twitter. For some, the verified distinction is coveted. For others, it's become a dirty word. "Verifieds" or "blue checks" are the elite, the establishment. Since many members of the media are verified, they have also become associated, for some, with the perceived liberal bias of the fourth estate. Conservatives, alt-righters, and Donald Trump fans have noticed that when Trump tweets, there is invariably a flood of "blue check liberals" responding in a negative way. There is also the perception that Twitter, a California company, is biased toward liberals. Also, according to Twitter, there are now about 250,000 people who're verified on the site, some of which are for unknown reasons.

9 of 416 comments (clear)

  1. It's become derogatory? by OakDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not widely. I've never heard of this.

    --
    Dark Reflection
    1. Re:It's become derogatory? by GWXerog · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The check-mark is there to say "Yep, this person is this person" and that's supposed to be it. However, we've seen twitter remove people's check-marks as some form of punishment in the past. That person's account has not been taken over, the legitimacy of the person is not being questioned, just the behavior. So why remove the check-mark?

    2. Re:It's become derogatory? by GWXerog · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because whether the check-mark is meant to be seen as an endorsement, people do anyway.

      So now I can reasonably assume that anybody with a check-mark is seen as a good boy by twitter? So I can also assume the guy that tweets about white genocide and vomiting when he sees a uniformed service member being treated well is considered a good boy by twitter because he *still* has a check-mark?

    3. Re:It's become derogatory? by sycodon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Before they banned Milo Y. they"unverified" him.

      So this either means that they believed someone had kidnapped him and was now posting in his name...

      or...

      The didn't like what he was saying, so they unverified him as a way to de-legitimize him.

      So which is it? Why would the "unverify" him?

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. Re:The truth by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So does reality. And sanity.

    A sane world is a free one. Because only in a free world you will get to hear ALL opinions, even the ones you do not want to hear. Ideas that go against your religion, your groupthink, your echo chamber and your peer group approval. They will not be filtered and they will reach you.

    Reality on the other hand simply is. No matter how much you wish it away. Saying it ain't simply isn't going to serve you well, for reality is a cruel mistress who will remind you that she's in charge. No matter your wishes, no matter your doctrine or your conviction.

    And yes, that works for the alt-right as much as for the alt-left (or whatever the term is for the regressive left is today, I fail to keep track and quite honestly, I couldn't care less what attribute they want to be associated with today). Sanity as well as reality is found in the middle ground. Not the extremes.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Seems about right. by TimothyHollins · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The biases of Twitter can be quite easily seen by looking at the "Safety Council", tasked with keeping Twitter free of undesireables.

    ( https://about.twitter.com/safe... )

    Furthermore, it is quite telling that Twitter punished notorious troll and agitator Milo Yiannopoulos by removing his verified tag. Why would they do that if the tag was only there to assert that the account was in fact verified as belonging to the real Milo Yiannopoulos?

  4. Sure by PvtVoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    @realDonaldTrump is a blue check. What more do you need?

  5. Next up... by PvtVoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... low numbers on Slashdot are not to be trusted.

  6. Twitters "liberal bias" is hardly a perception by nedlohs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They drank the social justice kool-aid a while back. And that group of "the left" has managed to steal the "liberal" label somehow.

    And no, I'm not an alt-right nutter. No, I didn't vote for Trump. No, I don't think Brexit is great. No, I don't think Obama was evil incarnate. My introduction to SJWs was when they destroyed what was a reasonably functioning atheist community with their religion.