Twitter Just Unverified Richard Spencer, And He's Not Happy
White supremacist Richard Spencer received an online blow Wednesday when he was officially “unverified” by Twitter.
The social media platform posted a tweet explaining that previously verified users could now have their status revoked based on various factors, including “promoting hate.”
Twitter now says verified users can have status revoked based on the content of their tweets, including “promoting hate" pic.twitter.com/XbhZp9dhnD
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) November 15, 2017
Spencer could definitely qualify, since he has promoted racist ideas such as slavery being good for African-Americans and that the U.S. was founded by “white culture.”
The fact that racists like Spencer even received Twitter’s coveted blue check mark in the first place has been a sticking point with many.
Twitter originally intended the check mark to confirm the identity of a prominent person, but ReCode notes that it has become seen as a status symbol and a sort of pseudo endorsement from the company.
Last week, Twitter attempted to clarify that the check mark was just meant to authenticate identity and voice while adding they were temporarily pausing general verifications.
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 (@TwitterSupport) November 9, 2017
The pausing ended Wednesday and the purging began, most notably with Spencer and Jason Kessler, who organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this year.
Spencer commented on his new unverified Twitter on ― where else? ― Twitter.
Spoiler alert: He wasn’t happy and expressed his pique in a manner that perfectly illustrates why the check mark was removed.
Verified no more! Is it not okay to be proudly White? 🤷🏻♂️
— Richard 🦃 Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) November 15, 2017
Naturally, Twitter was there to pile on.
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— Monica (@mostlyanxiety) November 15, 2017
what a predictable "snowflake" reaction. Is your precious little neo nazi ego bruised?
— |-/ (@AthleticQuails) November 15, 2017
— Dr. Rob Thompson (not related to Sir RGK Thompson) (@_RobThompson) November 16, 2017
— THE INVINCITREBLES🍀 (@marcmcardle1) November 15, 2017
— Bex (@beckdogenator) November 16, 2017
It’s not okay to be proudly a Nazi.
But now that that pretty little check mark of yours is gone, we should be able to report you, right?— Alt. U.S. Press Sec. (@AltUSPressSec) November 15, 2017
Dude, you really need some actual accomplishment to be proud of. Have you tried, like, embroidery? Scrabble?
— LD Burnett (@LDBurnett) November 16, 2017
— Unicorns for Peace (@UnicornTruffles) November 15, 2017
And there were lots of variations of this GIF:
— Kim Jong-daou (@SocialistTaco) November 16, 2017
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.