One hate tweet can axe your verified tag

Hyderabad: Verified Twitter handles with a huge following could lose their blue tick, considered a privilege or a status symbol, if there is a protest from other handles. A Bollywood actor-cum-critic’s handle was suspended after scores of complaints. When the suspension was lifted, he lost the verification tag.

Recently, UK resident Tommy Robinson lost his verified badge due to objections raised by a section of people on Twitter over his tweets. It is over a month now since Twitter has stopped its verification policy.

The status symbol for any user on Twitter is the shiny blue tick, mostly given to politicians, celebrities and even journalists.

However, the next time an elite Twitter handle endorses hate speech or anything that would hurt a section of society, they may lose the status.

Actor and critic Kamaal Rashid Khan went on record to say that his account has been suspended and he also lost the blue tick.

Earlier, Kumar Vishwas, who is on the national executive of the Aam Aadmi Party, had his Twitter handle suspended, but when he reported to the online redressal forum, the suspension was lifted, though without the verification tag. Later, the tag was added.

Mr Anurag Kambampati, founder of ‘We are Hyderabad’, a Twitter account dedicated to Hyderabad, with 55,000 followers, says, “Recently I noticed that the UK resident lost his verified tag because a section of people raised objections against his opinion.”

He said no such instance had been reported from the city. Earlier, handles with 600 plus followers got the privilege of the blue tick, but the verification policy has been temporarily suspended.”