Seth Rogen slams Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for verifying white supremacists
Canadian-American actor-comedian, Seth Rogen has come to the conclusion that Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey, simply doesn't care enough to take action against serious issues such as white supremacy. He expressed his displeasure on Twitter, claiming that the CEO of the social media platform is okay with the fact that white supremacists are verified users of the platform.
He also mentioned that he has been tweeting direct messages to Dorsey regarding the matter since the last eight months. He posted on Twitter: "I’ve been DMing with @jack about his bizarre need to verify white supremacists on his platform for the last 8 months or so, and after all the exchanges, I’ve reached a conclusion: the dude simply does not seem to give a fuck."
Twitter puts a blue mark beside accounts that are verified, as a way to confirm the user's identity. According to Huffington Post, the verification program took place in the summer of 2009 when the social network announced the beta version of Verified Accounts. The social network was sued by Tony La Russa, manager of St. Louis Cardinals after he was impersonated on Twitter and move was in response to this.
Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone, has mentioned in a blog post at that time that it was an opportunity for the social network to improve their user experience. The post reads: "We do recognize an opportunity to improve Twitter user experience and clear up confusion beyond simply removing impersonation accounts once alerted. We’ll be experimenting with a beta preview of what we’re calling Verified Accounts this summer."
Twitter has faced several criticisms from celebrities, including Kanye West, about impersonators creating unauthorized accounts on their behalf. Biz Stone was initially opposed to the idea of settling in La Russa's case, in which he had complained that someone was pretending to be him on Twitter. The account in question was suspended, however, Stone claimed that it was an "unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous.” Eventually, Twitter did bring in verified accounts with the beta version for a small set of public figures who run the risk of impersonation.
Twitter has been quite adamant in insisting that company's blue check mark is not an endorsement of any person in particular or their views. The social network merely uses the verification badge as a mark of legitimacy. "Verification was meant to authenticate identity & voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance. We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it. We have paused all general verifications while we work and will report back soon," Twitter Support tweeted to drive home the point in November of 2017.
Several users were enraged when Twitter verified Jason Kessler, the white nationalist and principal organizer behind the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year. In response, Twitter also updated their rules, saying that it would not tolerate accounts that post "specific threats of violence or wishing for serious physical harm, death, or disease to an individual or group of people.”
However, the process flawed when Twitter verified the official Twitter handle of the Muslim Brotherhood, @Ikhwanweb. The Muslim Brotherhood is a global Islamic revivalist organization which seeks political power in order to promote its ideology, the establishment of Islamic laws, and promotes violent jihad. Twitter had received criticism when people pointed out that the twitter handle was being used by the Brotherhood to promote violence, including a call in 2015 for jihad and "martyrdom". The page had also been spreading anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-Western hatred online.
According to Variety, Twitter's growth has been threatened by hate speech and abusive behavior, which have periodically flared into PR problems for the company. The article states that Dorsey has routinely pledged to make the user's safety Twitter's No. 1 priority and that he has implemented a program to measure the "health" of conversations on the platform. Twitter has earlier banned several accounts of far-right extremists. However, Rogen seems to be unimpressed by these measures and is seeking answers from Dorsey.
