Verified Twitter Accounts

About

Verified Twitter Accounts, often referred to as Blue Check Marks and Blue Checks, are Twitter accounts of the public interest which authenticity has been confirmed authentic by Twitter. Online, the phrases saw use as derogatory terms, often in reference to verified users associated with the left-wing presence on the platform, particularly journalists.

Origin

On June 6th, 2009, Twitter announced that during Summer 2009 the platform will be experimenting with "a beta preview of Verified Accounts", with the experiment beginning with public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes and other well-known individuals at risk of impersonation.^[1] The feature went live on June 12th, 2009.

The "About verified accounts" section of Twitter Help Center states that only accounts maintained by users "in key interest areas" are considered eligible for verification.^[2]

An account may be verified if it is determined to be an account of public interest. Typically this includes accounts maintained by users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas.

Spread

Controversies

Starting in 2016, a number of notable controversies linked to Twitter stripping users of the verified status took place.

On January 8th, 2016, British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos tweeted a screenshot of an email from Twitter informing him that his verified badge had been removed "due to recent violations of Twitter Rules."^[3] Yiannopoulos subsequently claimed Twitter did not explain which rule he had violated and speculated he was being punished for being an outspoken conservative. Twitter executive Nathan Hubbard posted a tweet speculating that the badge removal may have been a reaction to complaints that Yiannopoulos was "encouraging harassment" (shown below). The following day, Yiannopoulos disputed the complaint, claiming he told a friend "you deserve to be harassed" as a joke (shown below, right).^[4]

In November 2017, Twitter removed verified status from several prominent users associated with far-right movement, including American white supremacist Richard B. Spencer, British far-right activist Tommy Robinson and others.^[5] On November 15th, Robinson tweeted "The truth is now hate speech",^[6] attaching a screenshot of an email informing Robinson of violating Twitter guidelines.

Exposure Suggestion by Wikileaks

On January 6th, 2017, WikiLeaks Task Force tweeted "We are thinking of making an online database with all "verified" twitter accounts & their family/job/financial/housing relationships".^[7][8] The idea was later abandoned, with the tweet deleted at a later point.

Use As Derogatory Terms

Starting at least in February 2017, phrases such "verified account", "blue check marks" and "blue checks" has been used as derogatory terms, particularly in reference to verified users associated with the left-wing presence on the platform. On February 10th, 2017, Twitter users @MushKat^[9] and @ObeseChess^[10] posted some of the earliest tweets reflecting the changing attitude towards the verified status (shown below).

Starting in March 2017, multiple notable tweets in which "blue check mark" and similar phrases were used as pejorative describing left-wing associated Twitter accounts, especially those maintained by journalists, were posted by Twitter users (examples shown below).

On March 30th, 2017, The Outline published an article titled ""Verified" Is Now a Derogatory Term on Twitter" describing the trend.^[11]

Starting in Septermber 2018, Verified Twitter Accounts have often been referenced in NPC Wojak memes, with multiple examples apprearing in /r/The_Donald subreddit.^[12]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References