Editing 1914: Twitter Verification

{{comic
| number    = 1914
| date      = November 10, 2017
| title     = Twitter Verification
| image     = twitter_verification.png
| titletext = When we started distributing special status tokens that signify which people are important enough to join an elite group, we never could have imagined we might be creating some problems down the line.
}}

==Explanation==
At the time the comic was posted, some {{w|Twitter}} users (such as [https://twitter.com/xkcd Randall Munroe], [https://twitter.com/coldplay Coldplay], and [https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump Donald Trump]) had a blue  verification checkmark next to their name.  This checkmark was used to indicate that the user is who they say they are, rather than being a fake account made by someone else using their picture and name. This helps fans find the real accounts of their favorite celebrities. However, since the most notable people benefit from this the most, there is some ambiguity in the granting of the verified mark, as it also seems to be interpreted as a status symbol to indicate the notable celebrities. Some even see this as Twitter actively endorsing the user. For this reason, Twitter has removed verified checkmarks from real accounts of celebrities because of political controversies in the past. Examples of this are political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos (before he was banned from the service). One recent controversial decision regarding the verified mark is that Twitter gave a verification checkmark to {{w|Jason Kessler}}, the organizer of a {{w|Unite_the_Right_rally|recent far-right rally}} in Charlottesville, Virginia.  This drew attention to Twitter's verification system, [https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/11/09/twitter-halts-verification-over-checkmark-charlottesville-rally-organizer/848314001/ so they temporarily suspended it.]

The title text comments on the lack of foresight on Twitter's part when implementing the ''verified'' system: as it by design separates users between an in-group and an out-group, it seems to imply endorsement or, at least, favors some users to the detriment of others. This in turn automatically creates the twin sets of "people who shouldn't have been verified, but were" and "people who deserve to have been verified, but weren't." As the internet is populated by various large and strongly opinionated groups <sup>[''citation NOT needed'']</sup>, neither set will ever be empty and Twitter will always be seen as either endorsing unworthy or snubbing worthy people. There have been considerable problems created by this; see {{w|Twitter verification}} for more information.

The last line of dialogue is a typical English sentence and has nothing to do with the Twitter Moments feature, which can be used to compile several tweets with a shared theme into a browsable gallery. The character depicted is the (at the time of publication) Twitter CEO {{w|Jack Dorsey}}, judging by the beard.

Since [[Elon Musk]] bought Twitter, the "legacy" checkmarks given according to the rules above {{w|Twitter Blue verification controversy|have been removed}}, and the only checkmarks are blue ones for anyone who pays for a Twitter Blue subscription, as well as other ones for organizations and government officials. This effectively solves the problem shown by the comic, at the expense of making spam accounts seem trustworthy because they paid for Twitter Blue.

==Transcript==
:[A bearded figure, who is meant to be Jack Dorsey, the Twitter CEO at the time, is standing behind a podium with the blue Twitter bird logo.]
:Jack: Everyone calm down—
:Jack: We just need to go figure out how to bestow a global in-or-out status badge on some people, at our discretion, without anyone reading anything into who gets one. 
:Jack: This should only take a moment.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]