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Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by tptacek on Friday February 28, 2020 @04:58PM (#22446800)
That's a detached, rational, coherent way of looking at things that has very little to do with how actual people "use" the blue checkmark, and how Twitter grooms its users to use it.

The more complicated reality of how the checkmark works is that Twitter wants to have things both ways: the checkmarks promote accounts, and Twitter benefits from the increased engagement resulting from promoted accounts, and promoted accounts benefit from the exclusivity of the checkmark. But promoting accounts also puts Twitter on the hook, perceptually, for what some of those accounts say, so Twitter also has a fig leaf notion of the checkmark as simply a "verification system". But it's obviously not that.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by lonelappde on Friday February 28, 2020 @06:30PM (#22447404)
How so? Checkmark means "this account is owned by who you think owns it" to disambiguate celebrities from parodies and identity theives/trolls.

The fact some people crave being famous enough to merit a checkmark is not a problem with checkmarks. People chase status of all kinds.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by behindsight on Friday February 28, 2020 @07:01PM (#22447573)
Not that I disagree with your point, but Twitter has been known to "strip" the checkmark from controversial accounts.

It's no longer for simply verifying authenticity.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by lawnchair_larry on Friday February 28, 2020 @08:57PM (#22448177)
If you’re referring to Milo, it was stripped for violating the terms of the checkmark, not for being controversial.

His profile claimed he was a Buzzfeed reporter IIRC. Although he was being satirical, he didn’t indicate such, and this causes problems because the whole point of the checkmark is to signal that this person is who they say they are (including any claims in their bio). Since the average random person doesn’t even know who Milo is, they may see his verified profile and attribute his inflammatory comments to Buzzfeed staff members.

Twitter has many examples of taking enforcement actions for silly reasons, but this one actually made sense given that logic.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by cameronbrown on Saturday February 29, 2020 @12:38AM (#22449108)
But that's still an issue.

Twitter knew who Milo was, they'd verified his identity, and although he broke the rules, removing the checkmark told his followers one thing: "we now know anyone Twitter verifies is someone they agree with politically". This puts them on the hook for everybody who's verified.

It should be a verification only. If they didn't like what he said then they should've removed the account.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by tptacek on Saturday February 29, 2020 @01:08AM (#22449233)
You can "should" all you want, but it's not verification only. If it was, anyone could get verified. It's endorsement, and nobody wants to endorse Milo Yiannapoulos.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by Domenic_S on Saturday February 29, 2020 @04:08AM (#22449735)
According to twitter themselves, "The blue verified badge on Twitter lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic." https://help.twitter.com/en/managing-your-account/twitter-ve...

But i agree, in practice it's a "twitter endorses this account" indicator.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by xwowsersx on Saturday February 29, 2020 @04:09PM (#22453121)
You and others keep repeating what others have shown is obviously not true. Whatever the stated reasons for the blue checkmark are, it is clear that, in practice, it is not just verification.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by lawnchair_larry on Saturday February 29, 2020 @11:46AM (#22451444)
It’s like you didn’t even read my response. No, it had nothing to do with his politics and it had nothing to do with not liking what he said. It was because he was impersonating a buzzfeed reporter while wearing a verified identity marker.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by isoskeles on Saturday February 29, 2020 @11:54AM (#22451490)
We all know that twitter would recognize satire as satire if it comes from someone whose politics agree with theirs.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by tptacek on Saturday February 29, 2020 @12:27PM (#22451693)
We in fact do not know that and Twitter routinely bans satirical liberal accounts. Twitter moderation is bad. But, of course, good moderation would also eject Milo Yiannopolous; no serious company wants that guy around. He's banned from Facebook too. These people get banned from everywhere. Is it Laura Loomer that's banned from Uber Eats?
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Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by JadeNB on Saturday February 29, 2020 @07:22PM (#22454221)
Experiencing consequences for acting like a jerk isn't persecution.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by s_y_n_t_a_x on Saturday February 29, 2020 @07:34PM (#22454267)
You talk like it's one person. It's an entire community. No proof either.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by belltaco on Saturday February 29, 2020 @10:23PM (#22454917)
>It's an entire community

No. There are millions of conservatives on facebook.

>No proof either

Same to you. What community got banned? Elaborate.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by isoskeles on Saturday February 29, 2020 @04:50PM (#22453372)
Are you just referring to far-left like Sanders supporters, rather than mainstream liberals? Which ones exactly get banned?

I'm positive Twitter would allow a mainstream-supporting liberal (i.e. someone who vocally supported Clinton or supports Buttigieg or Biden or Bloomberg) to slide on this, like any time someone would jokingly pretend they're part of Fox News. Stephen Colbert, if he had a Twitter account that was equivalent to his satirical character on his Comedy Central show, would be adored and absolutely allowed to get a nice fat bluecheck on his hypothetical Twitter.

Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by SpicyLemonZest on Saturday February 29, 2020 @12:03PM (#22451526)
Milo’s followers do seem to believe that, but it’s not a reasonable conclusion; lots of people who Twitter doesn’t agree with politically have blue checks.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by asdf9240 on Saturday February 29, 2020 @06:28AM (#22450097)
As the person who you're replying to said, it was for verification. Milo does not work at Buzzfeed, but Milo claims to work at Buzzfeed on twitter. This resulted in the loss of the checkmark because Milo working at Buzzfeed is unverified.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by tptacek on Friday February 28, 2020 @07:02PM (#22447583)
My impression is that it never was. Rather, the notion that the blue-check is an indicator of celebrity was cultivated by Twitter itself. It's just not something they can come out and say directly anymore.
Re:A high school student created a fake 2020 candidate, and ... by drspacemonkey on Friday February 28, 2020 @09:14PM (#22448258)
Aside from the incident in the linked story, fictional characters (like The Count from Sesame Street) have the blue checkmark. So it doesn't seem to me that it's there to verify "who is the owner of this account".