Twitter claims that the verification is only a certification that the prominent person is indeed the person running the account, and not an impersonator. It contradicted this, however, when it revoked Milo’s verification after he said things they didn’t like. The blue checkmark is an indication of Twitter’s tacit approval (although some conservatives do have it), and now it has been bestowed upon none other than the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Twitter Verifies Official Muslim Brotherhood Account,” by Charlie Nash, Breitbart, November 19, 2016:
Twitter has verified the official account of the Muslim Brotherhood, after previously banning conservatives, celebrity Trump supporters, and a women’s rights group who criticized Saudi Arabia.
The account, which has over 140,000 followers, was given its blue verification badge just days after the platform announced a crackdown against “hate groups,” despite the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood previously supported a special tax for Jews and non-Muslims in exchange for “protection”.
The organization is also designated as a terrorist group in six countries, while they follow a Twitter account representing Hamas, a militant Islamic group that are also designated as a terrorist organization in numerous countries, including the United States.
In January, Twitter revoked Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ verification check, and later suspended his account altogether in July.
In February, numerous Trump-supporting conservative accounts were also suspended, followed by a women’s rights group (who had criticized Saudi Arabia), and rapper Azealia Banks, who had announced her support for Donald Trump shortly beforehand….
Angemon says
For the time being, at least. Conservatives have also been shadow-banned.
Jay Boo says
Yet, Grievance Mongering Muslims have written in to Twitter and insisted that the “Alt-Right” accounts are dangerous.
They expose Islam.
Westman says
140,000 followers for seditionists?
Of course it’s all about money AND control of the message. Does anyone think Donald Trump or Steve Bannon will be banned from Twitter, regardless of what they say about Islam or Muslims? Imagine the status and advertising revenue lost.
Everything is for sale in America, including Twitter’s rules. Quoting a song in West Side Story, “Ev’ry thing’s free in America; for a small fee in America”.
Custos Custodum says
Twitter, Facebook etc. dominate their respective markets by a massive margin.
This means that they are “common carriers” and CANNOT legally simply ban people based on opinions that the media cabal wants to suppress. The oft-recited claim that “a private company can ban anyone it wants” is NOT true.
Remember the vicious Left going into overdrive to force Christian (but not Muslim) bakers to make gay wedding cakes?
Existing anti-trust laws and precedents going back to Teddy Roosevelt via FDR and Ike give plenty of scope to the administration investigate and punish Twitter, Facebook, the NYT, PBS etc. from engaging in COORDINATED censorship.
Beagle says
The latest push for censorship is a cooperative effort between globalists in government, legacy media, and the private sector social media platform executives. This was inadvertently revealed when Merkel was caught on a hot mic coordinating censorship with Facebook’s Zuckerberg to extinguish any opposition to open borders. Days ago, Obama and Merkel appeared together to lecture us about holding unapproved opinions. Another element in this coordinated push for public-private censorship is the proposed ban on so-called “fake news” on social media targeting any conservative or libertarian outfit not towing the globalist open borders line.
The Left’s intense passion for global censorship evolves new tactics all the time, and it never rests.
Allan says
They should be able to ban whomever they choose. The more the merrier, I say, lest they fail to spawn viable competitors.
gravenimage says
Unfortunately, often it is only critics of Jihad, and not Jihadists themselves, who are banned.
Anonymous says
Twitter continues to distance itself from reality proving the old adage “truth can be painful”.
Nero says
Twitter is not profitable anyway and will close its doors soon.
Guest says
Congratulations twitter you support terrorists enjoy your new found popularity.
Berengaria says
We knew that Censorship by Twitter would be imposed, it was just a matter of WHEN they would strike against Americans.
When Twitter silenced my account, I was so disappointed, because I knew then that only Select Groups were entitled to Freedom of Speech.
White, Christian Americans have been pushed aside by the Globalist Establishment.
But we, Americans defeated the Globalist Mob on Election of President Donald J Trump. Pray that Freedom of Speech is returned to ALL Americans, not just to DEM GOV Approved Groups of Anti-American Thugs.
Mazo says
Milo was suspended by Twitter for harassment, not for hate speech. Twitter allowed hate speech by Milo and his fellows to go unchecked.
Milo got into an argument with Leslie Jones and a ton of his followers took that as a cue to deluge Jones’s count with racial slurs and derogatory pictures. Twitter deemed this as complicit to inciting harassment of another user, via indirect signalling and winking.
Plenty of unchecked hate speech abounds on Twitter.
Angemon says
Mazo posted:
“Milo was suspended by Twitter for harassment, not for hate speech.”
Who exactly did Milo “harassed”?
“Twitter allowed hate speech by Milo and his fellows to go unchecked.”
Exactly what “hate speech” are you referring to? Can you provide an example?
“Milo got into an argument with Leslie Jones and a ton of his followers took that as a cue to deluge Jones’s count with racial slurs and derogatory pictures.”
Ah, so you can read the minds of Milo’s followers. Got it. In any case, and even if events happened as you claim, Milo did NOT tell his followers to go after Leslie Jones.
“Twitter deemed this as complicit to inciting harassment of another user, via indirect signalling and winking.”
Except there was no such thing – Milo is not responsible for how his followers decide to act. And there are plenty of non-conservative accounts whipping their followers into a frenzy while Twitter moderators look the other way – saying that rules aren’t equally enforced depending on one’s political stance is an understatement. Milo’s banning is evidence that Twitter is a “no-go zone” for conservatives.
“Plenty of unchecked hate speech abounds on Twitter.”
Especially from your ilk…