CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The organizer of the violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has lost his verified status on Twitter, along with several other prominent white nationalists and far-right conservatives.
News outlets report Unite The Right organizer Jason Kessler on Wednesday lost the blue check mark that was bestowed upon him last month, a move that elicited backlash against the social media site from those who saw verification as an endorsement of Kessler's values or noteworthiness.
that it eliminated the verification status of accounts in violation of new guidelines , which include those that promote discrimination-based hate or violence.
Kessler, who has previously used Twitter to say Heather Heyer's death at the August rally "was payback time," claims he's being censored. Twitter is a private company with no legal free-speech obligations to users.
We’re continuing our efforts to make Twitter a safer place and want to share our progress along the way – so we’re trying something new and publishing a calendar of our planned work.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety)
Twitter has changed their verification policy just to be able to censor me. Several other accounts were unverified including Richard Spencer and James Allsup while Baked Alaska was permanently suspended altogether.
— Jason Kessler (@TheMadDimension)