- Digital Culture - 【Historical Archives】

Hoping to get verified on Historical ArchivesTwitter? Don't bother trying right now.

Twitter is pausing all general verification requests, the company announced Thursday. The decision comes days after Twitter verified Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer.

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That move was seen by some as an endorsement of white supremacy. "Twitter is directly enabling white supremacy and white nationalist ideology," wrote The Root's Monique Judge.

Twitter has argued that isn't the case. Verification, similar to the badge on Facebook and Instagram, is intended to show people who's real versus an unconfirmed account that could be a parody or imposter account.

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For example, @chancetherapper is verified while there are dozens of parody accounts that even include his same profile picture and slight changes from his handle.

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But, like many features of the internet and things in life, Twitter's user base has decided it signals something else. Leslie Miley, former Twitter engineer, tweeted his disappointment in the company verifying Kessler.

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledged Thursday that the system "is broken."

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Twitter's general manager of consumer product and engineering group Ed Ho even admitted that his company identified its verification policy as an issue earlier this year and should have addressed the problem sooner.