Charlottesville Far-Right Accounts Lose Twitter Verified ✔Tick

Twitter has stripped several far-right accounts of their "verified" badge, after changing its policy.

Among them are Jason Kessler who helped organise a far-right march in Charlottesville, and white supremacist Richard Spencer.

English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson also had his badge removed.

Twitter said the badge was being interpreted as an "endorsement or an indicator of importance" and said it would change the scheme.

The blue badge was first introduced to indicate the authenticity of prominent profiles on the social network. Originally the site had chosen who to verify and usually reserved the status for celebrities, public officials and journalists.

Twitter said it was designing a new "authentication and verification programme", but in the meantime would "remove verification from accounts whose behaviour does not fall within the new guidelines".

The new guidelines say verified status can be lost if a person breaks Twitter's rules or "promotes hate" on the basis of "race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease". It said behaviour both on and off Twitter would be taken into account.

UCJ, UNILORIN.