Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - Why Won't Twitter Verify Me, @Biz？
Aired: 2017-06-20
Duration: 05:27


=== Why Not Verify Milo? (05:26) ===

[00:00:00]  So I'm currently out of my office and I'm recording videos in this format because it's easier to do so.
[00:00:06]  And I wanted to rip off the, you know, I can't do the wiggly eyebrows, but what are you going to do?
[00:00:11]  Anyway, so I saw this on Twitter by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.
[00:00:17]  Twitter is founded on the idea that freedom of expression is a human right.
[00:00:21]  We work for that.
[00:00:22]  Biz, I have to pull you up on a few things that I find very, very contradictory about your position.
[00:00:30]  You link to this document that you wrote or co-wrote in January of 2011, and in it you say, Our position on freedom of expression carries with it a mandate to protect our users' right to speak freely.
[00:00:43]  Discussion on topics from geopolitical events to wardrobe malfunctions make Twitter both important and fun.
[00:00:49]  Providing the tools that foster these discussions and following the policies that keep them alive is meaningful work for us.
[00:00:55]  It's quite interesting you say that after you at Twitter had systematically suspended the accounts of alt-right people.
[00:01:03]  As far as I can tell, on the basis that Twitter top brass disagreed with their politics.
[00:01:08]  I mean, I don't agree with Richard Spencer either, but I don't see him tweeting things that are worthy of suspension.
[00:01:15]  Unless you can give me an example that actually does contravene your rules.
[00:01:20]  As far as I can tell, it's just him giving an opinion that you don't appreciate.
[00:01:25]  Am I wrong?
[00:01:26]  I'm guessing that I'm not wrong after you caved to public backlash and restored these accounts because you knew what you had done had come from a position of ideological bigotry.
[00:01:38]  You were not interested in discussing the other side of the argument with the people on the other side of the argument.
[00:01:45]  And I'm not on their side either.
[00:01:48]  But I think they should have the right to speak.
[00:01:50]  And I don't think they should be deplatformed on the basis that I disagree with them.
[00:01:55]  And since we're talking about Twitter's ideological preferences, let's talk about the unverification of Milo Leonopoulos.
[00:02:02]  This was before his account was banned, of course.
[00:02:04]  And I don't necessarily agree with his account banning, but I don't necessarily disagree with it either.
[00:02:11]  I can see that you have your reasons.
[00:02:13]  I don't agree with those reasons, but you at least have reasons that you will cling to till the end.
[00:02:19]  But you do at least have some justification that is based in something Milo did.
[00:02:25]  Again, I don't agree with it.
[00:02:26]  And it's not like Leslie Jones isn't as much of a troll and provocateur as Milo is, but you can cling to it.
[00:02:33]  And it gives you the facade of saying, look, we weren't banning him because we hate Milo, because Milo makes a mockery of us.
[00:02:40]  We were banning him because of a tweet he sent to Leslie Jones.
[00:02:44]  In fact, did he even send it to Leslie?
[00:02:45]  I should probably have looked that up before I recorded this.
[00:02:47]  Anyway, why did you unverify Milo?
[00:02:50]  That was, as far as I can tell, the stupidest thing you could possibly do.
[00:02:55]  And that's what this video is going to be about.
[00:02:56]  Talking about the verification process on Twitter.
[00:02:59]  You say, as noted here by Business Insider, that the tick is a verification badge, which signifies that Twitter has proven the identity of the person holding the account.
[00:03:08]  Do you think Milo's identity suddenly changed?
[00:03:11]  You know that you de-verified him for political reasons, because he's not playing ball with you.
[00:03:18]  And that brings us to why you won't verify me.
[00:03:22]  Now, I've put in another verification request, and I put this in about a week ago, and it's still in review.
[00:03:28]  That's very interesting.
[00:03:29]  I do want to know what the criteria are, because according to the criteria as you put in your verification forms, I should have been verified a long time ago.
[00:03:39]  I mean, there are other anti-SJW YouTubers like my friend Blair White.
[00:03:43]  She's verified.
[00:03:44]  She has a large YouTube channel.
[00:03:45]  She's got a large Twitter following.
[00:03:47]  It's about half of mine on both YouTube and Twitter.
[00:03:50]  So it's not by the numbers, isn't it?
[00:03:52]  And conversely, you've got someone like Mundane Matt, who's got 30,000 followers.
[00:03:57]  He's got a YouTube channel with 139,000 followers and he's not verified.
[00:04:02]  But Matt doesn't do anything particularly controversial.
[00:04:05]  Blair White can be a provocateur on Twitter and she enjoys it and I appreciate her work.
[00:04:10]  But you haven't verified Matt, but he is exactly the same, just with fewer followers and less provocative tweets.
[00:04:17]  And so what I want to know from you, Beers, and presumably Jack as well, is your reason for not verifying me.
[00:04:25]  I know what it is.
[00:04:26]  And you know what it is.
[00:04:28]  And I could tell people if you like.
[00:04:30]  But I would like your statement.
[00:04:31]  Why won't you verify me?
[00:04:33]  Is it because, as you can see from my Twitter account, I don't really take your platform all that seriously?
[00:04:38]  Honestly, I'd like you to tell me what the reason is.
[00:04:41]  I mean, I have a Wikipedia page.
[00:04:43]  That's more than most of the people who have been verified on Twitter.
[00:04:47]  Does Anissa Sueba have a Wikipedia page?
[00:04:50]  She's got 2,500 followers.
[00:04:52]  And she's verified.
[00:04:53]  Why?
[00:04:54]  Because she works for the BBC.
[00:04:56]  That's why.
[00:04:57]  But I, as an independent content creator, have been refused verification twice now and will probably get refused a third time.
[00:05:06]  So all I'm saying is that I want you to tell everyone why you won't verify me.
[00:05:11]  And Mundane Matt and any other people who have significant online followings and are in exactly the same position as other verified YouTubers and independent content creators.
[00:05:23]  What is the reason for this discrimination?