{"id":10399,"date":"2017-11-09T13:45:07","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T21:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/09\/news-4172\/"},"modified":"2017-11-09T13:45:07","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T21:45:07","slug":"news-4172","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/09\/news-4172\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter Verification Has Always Been a Mess"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/articles\/5a04c3db31293b0e1cfa945b\/lede\/1510262508556-birddead.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credit to Author: Sarah Emerson| Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2017 21:24:02 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> Twitter wants to fix its long-broken verification process, according to the company\u2019s CEO, Jack Dorsey. The means by which users obtain \u201ca blue checkmark\u201d are nebulous and seemingly biased, and the system\u2019s flaws were exposed after Jason Kessler, organizer of the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/twitter-jason-kessler-verified_us_5a03c4a6e4b03deac08b1ff1\" target=\"_blank\">was verified<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n<p> Kessler\u2019s new credential caused many to fault Twitter for tacitly endorsing the ideals he espouses\u2014essentially, white supremacy. The verification process, according to Twitter, is supposed to authenticate a person\u2019s identity. But, instead, it\u2019s created a hierarchy of \u201cVery Important Tweeters,\u201d or \u201cVITs,\u201d as they are referred to internally by staff. <\/p>\n<p> What does it mean when VITs include racists and bigots?<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"UVNyznj\" data-embedded-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSupport\/status\/928654369771356162\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> While Twitter\u2019s verification steps are <a href=\"https:\/\/verification.twitter.com\/welcome\" target=\"_blank\">now automated<\/a>, at one point, users could only snag a blue checkmark by knowing someone within the company. According to a former Twitter employee, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, the process was once very difficult. (A few years ago, there wasn\u2019t even a form to apply for a verification.)<\/p>\n<p> And while the process was never explicitly preferential, it engendered the belief that \u201cit was a big deal for us to get a famous person verified, as if it validated that Twitter continued to be important,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p> Twitter\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/support.twitter.com\/articles\/20174631\" target=\"_blank\">own rules<\/a> say that accounts of public interest may qualify for verification. Users must submit several ID types to receive a badge. That can include a government-issued ID, like a passport, and summary of why you deserve to be verified. Submissions are largely vetted by Twitter Support, which dumps applicants into various buckets: celebrity, journalist, athlete, business, politician, etc.<\/p>\n<p> But some people claim the Twitter verification processed hasn\u2019t worked that way for them. Rebecca Watson, a popular science podcaster and founder of Skepchick, who has been prominent enough for years to reasonably be considered an \u201caccount of public interest,\u201d claims she submitted multiple forms of ID to verify herself after people created fake accounts impersonating her. Still, at the time, Twitter refused to verify her.<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"ubNDcln\" data-embedded-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rebeccawatson\/status\/928677765003362305\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Kessler, meanwhile, describes himself as a \u201cfreelance journalist\u201d for far-right publications: \u201cI must be the only working class white advocate [to be verified],\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheMadDimension\/status\/927991727088177152\" target=\"_blank\">tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> The <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vice.com\/story\/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror\" target=\"_blank\">Unite the Right rally<\/a> in Charlottesville, VA, convened white supremacist and neo-Nazi demonstrators, and caused the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, when 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. intentionally <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vice.com\/story\/what-happened-in-charlottesville-virginia\" target=\"_blank\">drove his car<\/a> into a crowd of counter-protesters. <\/p>\n<p> While Twitter\u2019s official line has always been that verification isn\u2019t a value judgment by the company, in practice that hasn\u2019t been the case. For example, verified users can sort their mentions to only include tweets from other verified users. While Twitter claims that verification exists only as a means of identification, verified users are widely perceived to be more important or valued than unverified ones.<\/p>\n<p> The former employee told me that the issue of problematic users asking for verification was regularly raised on Falquora, an internal forum where employees can pose questions to management.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cLeadership claimed that verification was working as intended. Every time it became a big issue, [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/culture\/2016\/12\/11\/13911182\/twitter-ban-richard-spencer-alt-right\" target=\"_blank\">the verification of white supremacist<\/a> Richard Spencer, for example,] it would come up on Falquora as a thing,\u201d the former Twitter employee said.<\/p>\n<p> The issue of controversial users being verified would \u201cget upvoted, and either Jack [Dorsey], Vijaya [Gadde, Twitter&#8217;s general counsel], or other leaders would get up on stage and give us a speech about how verification is only about confirming that a person is who they say they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> A spokesperson for Twitter emphasized that verification has been a known problem, and directed me to Dorsey\u2019s tweet on the matter.<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"BmfqsCp\" data-embedded-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jack\/status\/928658511311097856\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Despite Dorsey\u2019s claim, however, former Twitter staff insist that one fix was suggested repeatedly.<\/p>\n<p> If tiers of verified users were assigned colored badges\u2014still reserving the blue checkmark for influential people\u2014this would allow regular users to authenticate themselves without the onus, or implications, of being a \u201cVIT.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThe colored verification badges have been brought up internally SO MANY TIMES. I don&#8217;t know why that hadn&#8217;t been implemented yet,\u201d another former Twitter employee, who also spoke to me on the condition of anonymity because of a non disclosure agreement, told me. \u201cEverything there is so process heavy that it takes forever, and too many approvals need to happen before anything ever gets done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI know people that deserve to be verified that definitely had a very hard time getting it, and some never did,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<p> Twitter leadership allegedly dismissed the colored badge solution, favoring a larger platform revamp. But when management was challenged on <i> how<\/i> that revamp would happen or help, exactly, staff were never given a satisfactory answer. <\/p>\n<p> Regarding the existing verification process, some Twitter employees have taken steps toward transparency. Twitter\u2019s GM of consumer product and engineering, Ed Ho, questioned whether the company should even dole out a credential as authoritative as the checkmark.<\/p>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"rQcOLZI\" data-embedded-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrdonut\/status\/928656125020446720\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"max-width: 550px;\" data-iframely-id=\"X4cizW3\" data-embedded-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrdonut\/status\/928656563807461376\" class=\"article__embed article__embed--iframely\">\n<div style=\"left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" data-iframely-smart-iframe=\"true\"><iframe  src= width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" ><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> This week\u2019s incident reiterates how unwilling Twitter is to discuss problems inherent to its platform\u2014until it\u2019s forced to. Less than a week ago, a customer service contractor <a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/gyjdm4\/how-twitter-could-take-down-trump-account\" target=\"_blank\">briefly disabled<\/a> President Trump\u2019s Twitter account, compelling the company to acknowledge flaws with its admin privileges. <\/p>\n<p> A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on how the company plans to improve the verification process. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/zmzgkx\/twitter-verification-always-broken-white-supremacists\" target=\"bwo\" >https:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/en_us\/rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/video-images.vice.com\/articles\/5a04c3db31293b0e1cfa945b\/lede\/1510262508556-birddead.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Credit to Author: Sarah Emerson| Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2017 21:24:02 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Former Twitter employees say many in the company have have long railed against its broken verification system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[10643,13328,10378],"tags":[16525,16528,454,16527,16526,13682],"class_list":["post-10399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-independent","category-motherboard","category-security","tag-jack-dorsey","tag-jason-kessler","tag-twitter","tag-unite-the-right","tag-verification","tag-white-supremacists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}