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Ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson stripped of Twitter's blue tick in verified accounts crackdown

Robinson, who founded the EDL in 2009, lost his verified status along with other far-right members - PA
Robinson, who founded the EDL in 2009, lost his verified status along with other far-right members - PA

Prominent members of the far-Right including the former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson have been stripped of their cherished blue ticks on Twitter after the social network changed its rules around "verified" accounts.

The social network announced  new guidelines for verified accounts that can see users lose their status if they harass or threaten people based on race, sexual orientation or religious belief. The rules are designed to account for behaviour "on and off" Twitter, meaning users can lose their blue ticks even if they do not violate its rules directly.

Twitter has verified the accounts of celebrities, politicians and other public figures since 2009, with small blue ticks appearing next to the profiles. The mark was meant merely to confirm authenticity, but has since been seen as an endorsement and a badge of honour. 

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It has become increasingly problematic as Twitter has changed to give more prominence to verified accounts in timelines and searches.

On Wednesday night, Twitter unverified a handful of accounts, particularly those associated with white supremacism and the far-Right. They included Robinson, the American white supremacist Richard Spencer, and Jason Kessler, who organised a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

Robinson responded by saying "the truth is now hate speech", while Spencer said: "Is it not okay to be proudly white?"

Twitter said: "We are conducting an initial review of verified accounts and will remove verification from accounts whose behavior does not fall within these new guidelines. We will continue to review and take action as we work towards a new program we are proud of."

It admitted that verification had "long been perceived as an endorsement" and admitted it "should have addressed this earlier".

Twitter, which has long been seen as failing to crack down on racism and harassment, caused a storm last week when it verified Kessler's account. It originally justified the move by claiming that verified status does not imply endorsement, but later backtracked and paused its verification process while it re-assessed its policy.

Robinson co-founded the English Defence League in 2009 and led it until 2013. Last year he established a British version of the German far-Right group Pegida.

While Twitter has long insisted that verification is not political, it has taken action before. Last year it stripped Milo Yiannopoulos, the right-wing journalist, of his blue tick six months before banning the account.

It has also rejected requests from Julian Assange for his account to be verified, leading the Wikileaks boss to add a small blue emoji next to his username.