Image by Twitter

By Ari Feldman November 16, 2017

Laura Loomer and Richard Spencer are among a string of prominent far-right figures to have lost their verification badges on Twitter on Wednesday, Newsweek reported.

Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, and “Baked Alaska”, a prominent “alt-right” figure, also lost the site’s signature blue check marks.

Twitter framed the de-verifications as a response to criticism that the blue badge does not merely authenticate the account, but provides an implicit endorsement of the user’s views.

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The company updated its policy so that the badge could be removed if a user “promotes hate” on the basis of “race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease”.

Far-right users on Twitter responded to the updated rules with claims that it was part of a witch hunt against conservative voices on the service.

“It’s time for Washington to regulate Silicon Valley,” Spencer wrote on Twitter. “Law-abiding citizens should have a right to use social networks, payment systems, and hosting, which make up the public square of the 21st century.”

Loomer likened Twitter’s actions to “Hitler,” drawing a comparison between the company’s de-verification of her account with the Holocaust.

#NeverAgain should another conservative be censored on Twitter.

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) November 16, 2017

Other Twitter users associated with the far-right — including the Proud Boys and Alex Jones — were able to keep their badges.

The de-verifications came a day after the hacking collective Anonymous disabled over a dozen sites run by white supremacists, including TexasKKK.com, NJOathkeepers.org and NorthCarolinaLeagueOfTheSouth.com.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.

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