Twitter gave Jason Kessler a blue checkmark last week.
That might not sound noteworthy to someone removed from the daily drama of Twitter, but that single decision reinvigorated one of Twitter's oldest controversies: that neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and members of the alt-right operate in full view on Twitter, spreading hate speech.
This time, however, the move to verify Kessler, which happened on Nov. 7, and the resulting fallout, with him being stripped of his badge on Nov. 15, looks like it may have finally started a purge.
SEE ALSO:Twitter is removing verification checkmarks from accounts that break its rulesOn the 15th, Twitter permanently banned Tim "Treadstone" Gionet, a prominent alt-right troll more widely known as Baked Alaska. A few hours later, Twitter stripped white supremacists Kessler and Richard Spencer of their previously granted verification badges, though they both remain on the platform.
Kessler was one of the organizers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August, and his (briefly) verified status on Twitter had inspired him to tweet, “I must be the only working class white advocate with that distinction."
The blowback began immediately. Many Twitter users were appalled by this "distinction" being granted to a man who helped organize a rally of racists that resulted in the death of counter protester Heather Heyer. To some, it looked like Twitter just endorsed white supremacy and cultural violence.
Tweet may have been deleted
In response, Twitter chose to temporarily stop its verification process. This week, Twitter released new rules for verification, and immediately began acting on them, banning accounts like Baked Alaska and taking away verifications. More could come as Twitter acts upon its new policy. That's a moment of celebration on Twitter dot com and inside Twitter's offices.
"No more nazis," one Twitter employee texted to me Thursday morning, accompanied with a GIF of someone dancing.
Just why the controversy around Kessler's verification became the turning point is unclear. Twitter has weathered similar controversies before, and even watched as major companies have passed on acquiring the company reportedly due to its problems with abuse. All the while, Twitter rarely took action. Employees who have spent years at Twitter often griped about the company's slow execution when it comes to products overall and its tolerance of abusive behavior.
Now things are different. The entire company has been under strict orders to address harassment problems swiftly. A company-wide email last Thursday from CEO Jack Dorsey stated that they'd be reworking the verification policy quickly.
On Wednesday of this week, that internal work became public. Employees received a lengthy email with the new verification policy, which was also added to Twitter's Help Center and tweeted out. At almost the exact same time, Twitter banned Gionet and revoked verifications from Spencer and Kessler.
Suddenly, Twitter was showing signs of embracing what some employees and users had been pleading for years: No more Nazis.
"There’s some things you can just say, 'This is wrong.' Nazis are wrong. Homophobia is wrong. It's a non-starter, non-conversational," a Twitter employee said over the phone Thursday.
But the idea of there being a firm line of right and wrong hasn't held true at Twitter in its 11 years. Twitter has long promoted itself as network for free speech and having open dialogues. That came at the cost of creating a place where women and people of color are constantly harassed. Meanwhile, neo-Nazis share photos of gas chambers.
Twitter did start embracing change, but not in the way many of its users hoped. Seemingly every product change on Twitter inspired users to express their concern that the company did not take its Nazi problem seriously enough.
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For many inside Twitter's 3,500-person company, the actions on Wednesday were long overdue, reflective of a new desire to act quickly — and a sign that Twitter isn't always proactive to problems.
"I say it with the upmost respect. I truly believe that Twitter wants to do the right thing," a Twitter employee said. "But there are just blind spots in the company that we don’t really have the purview [to see prior] and we’re like, 'Oh shit, we have a problem,' which is tough."
Apparently, verifying white supremacists and allowing them to be on the network in the first place was one of those blind spots. The company admitted to their own delay in acting in a tweetstorm about its new verification process Wednesday.
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Twitter declined to comment on individual accounts (as it always does), and therefore did not share why or how Kessler got verified when he did. Of course, there are theories inside Twitter HQ.
Why was he not verified during or directly after Charlottesville? Perhaps because Twitter doesn't tend to proactively verify individuals unless they're celebrities like a new popular musician. Instead, Kessler or someone on his team could have submitted a form months ago, and it finally ended up at the top of the queue last week.
Why would Twitter verify a white supremacist in the first place? Perhaps the person who did it didn't know who he was. Twitter operates globally and has people on the trust and safety team in places like Dublin, where they may not be as familiar with the events in Charlottesville.
It's clear inside Twitter that the company is taking curbing the site of abuse seriously, despite the incident of verifying Kessler. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has repeatedly stressed that addressing harassment and abuse is the number one priority. Employees at Twitter have been allowed to leave their previous teams and join the task force dedicated the cause.
For some inside and outside Twitter HQ, it's a commendable effort. For others, it's a call for concern. Andrew Torba, former ad tech founder and now head of "free speech" social network Gab, argued that Twitter is politicizing its platform and is no longer accepting of an open dialogue.
"Twitter’s hypocrisy and poor leadership is on display yet again," Torba wrote in an email to Mashable. "By selectively removing verification from certain right-leaning groups and individuals and not left-leaning groups and individuals who also break these new subjective guidelines, Twitter is indeed ironically turning verification into a direct sign of endorsement."
Indeed, a Twitter employee noted that the verification badge can be beneficial even if granted to white supremacists. It helps signal who is the real Jason Kessler, for example, and not an impersonator or a parody account.
"I do want to know these people, and put a face to a name instead of it being a monolith of there are people that support nazis," said the Twitter employee.
Gab is one of several alternative social networks that have risen in popularity over the last year in part due to Twitter's crackdown on hate speech. Gab received thousands of new user sign-ups overnight after Twitter unverified Kessler and banned "Baked Alaska," according to Torba.
Twitter user @TommyVape who goes by Tommy and whose bio reads, "My Twitter Lists define my interests; 2nd Amendment: Knife Rights, NRA and GOA member," disagreed with Twitter's recent actions.
"Twitter is screwing itself and everyone involved. They do not have an open platform and in the end I think a very open platform like Gab.ai or Mind will win out," he wrote in a direct message.
Twitter user @DoshRichards, whose Twitter bio reads "Memelord, centrist, doesn't like nutella" replied to my tweet asking for feedback on the "alt-right reckoning" with, it's "too political a term. This is the natural result of a generation raised with the complete idealogical and political freedom provided by the internet in an age of intolerance of intolerance. Far right idols like Trump and Milo could not have existed in any other time. The Alt right is countercultural, it's the new punk."
For Twitter, the alt-right is a new priority.
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