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Arieh Kovler Profile picture
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Nov 9 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
As Twitter is about to scrap its verification system for individuals later today, it has added a new verification system for brands. See this from social blogging site @Tumblr. The new "official" badge appears both on the main profile and in timeline tweets.
Some brands have them, some don't.

Facebook: no
Amazon: yes
The White House: yes
10 Downing Street: no
Not just brands: individuals are getting them too.
Britney Spears, Boris Johnson, Barack Obama. Chris Evans.
I don't know how they're deciding who gets the 'official' tag and who doesn't. I'd note that big voices on the Right like @benshapiro don't have one. Nor does CNN's @andersoncooper. Shapiro's Daily Wire doesn't have one. CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 show does.
I don't have one, unsurprisingly. #unofficial
Some journalists got a grey tick, some didn't. Doesn't seem to be any obvious rhyme or reason to it. Perhaps there are objective or algorithmic criteria because I can't believe this was done manually.
Some obvious people who should have got one but didn't, including @HillaryClinton. But I'd guess they're still rolling them out and it's all in flux.
... And it's gone. Twitter seems to have removed the "official" grey tick from all profiles.

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More from @ariehkovler

Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Nov 6
So, tomorrow is supposed to be the day when Twitter as we know it comes to an end. Here's why:
Twitter is ending verification, supposedly as soon as tomorrow. Anyone with an iPhone and a credit card who lives in the USA or a few other countries, will be able to buy a blue tick. The tick won't prove their identity, only confirm that they've paid.
So from tomorrow, a blue tick means either "this person has been authenticated to be who they claim to be by Twitter"... OR "this person has an iphone and paid $8".

This is a bit of a problem.
Read 9 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Nov 6
Mastodon will only work as an alternative to Twitter if news orgs, institutions etc launch their own Mastodon servers for their team members, employees, representatives etc. Like email addresses.
So MPs can be NAME@parliament.uk, Guardian journos can be NAME@guardian.co.uk, BBC celebs can be name@bbc.com etc. That works as institutional verification of identity.
There are managed Mastodon offerings like managed email. Orgs without deep tech knowledge don't *need* to run actual software themselves.
Read 4 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Nov 3
Ohhh. This is bad. The new Twitter blue badge won't actually verify your identity at all. You just pay the money and they give you the tick. It's a scammers' charter.
Want to call yourself Citibank Password Verification? Here's your blue tick, thanks for the $8. Want to say you're the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and announce you're abolishing the police? $8. Call yourself WXBM Local News Arkansas and invent a school shooting? Yours for $8
Trump is banned? No problem, you can be Trump for 8 dollars, verified by Twitter. Or you can be Barron Trump and "expose the dark truth about your parents". Whatever. Go mad.
Read 4 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Oct 29
Holy shit this is an insane story.
Like... how did the news media accept a blackout on this? Truss had Top Secret stuff on her personal mobile that could damage national security and the Russians stole it?

And, well, the timing of the news is a bit convenient, right? Takes the heat of a certain beleaguered Home Secretary who is both angry at Truss and would have access to the details of this story.
Read 4 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Oct 27
Loads of countries do hand counts. But you've got to DESIGN ballots for hand counting: only one race per ballot, large clear boxes, stuff like that.
These people "spent three hours counting 50 ballots", but each of those ballot papers seems to have been for multiple races at once. So they can't just put each candidate's ballots in bundles and then flick through them to check all the crosses match.
Here's a sample general election ballot from the UK. Look for the cross, put the ballot in the pile for the right candidate. Next.

Maybe you have a couple of other piles too: blank ballots, spoiled, unclear. Image
Read 4 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Oct 25
OK, so open letters. I've written a few and signed none of them —they were signed by elected reps, celebrities, academics etc. So I know a bit about how this works.
A campaign group or lobby group writes an open letter. They go to a couple of friendly people in their target group and ask them to front it. Maybe the friendly people have suggestions on the text and those are incorporated.
The friendly signatories become the 'leaders' of the letter and they start emailing people. "We have this open letter calling for X, will you sign it?"
Read 11 tweets

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