A sicial media account belonging to an organiser of a white supremacist rally where a young woman died has been 'verifed' by online giant Twitter.
Jason Kessler was one of those behind the violent demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August were counter-protestor Heather Heyer was struck by a car.
The Daily Beast reports that Kessler was given the official badge next to his name Tuesday on the online platform.
However, the verified status prompted a swift backlash from other users on the platform.
Hi @Twitter,
— Simran Jeet Singh (@SikhProf) November 9, 2017
Hope you realize there's no such thing as being neutral when it comes to Nazis. Verifying Jason Kessler is a political act -- and one that puts you on the wrong side of history.
Hey @jack: very active user, 2.1M followers here: this is disgusting. Verifying white supremacists reinforces the increasing belief that your site is a platform for hate speech. I don't want to give up Twitter, but I may have to. Who do you value more, users like me or him?
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) November 9, 2017
@twitter, get Jason Kessler off of Twitter. You’ve banned others for violent tweets. This is a dangerous man.
— ejwbooth (@enidjanebooth) November 9, 2017
Kessler previously called Ms Heyer, “a fat, disgusting Communist.” He added that her death was “payback time.”
This is the organizer of the Unite the Right rally where Heather Heyer died. pic.twitter.com/MVnJHecLOt
— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) August 19, 2017
Police identified James Alex Fields Jr., a white supremacist, as the driver who hit Heyer and others at the protest.
He has been charged with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of failing to stop at an accident resulting in a death.
Last month, Kessler was indicted on a felony perjury charge after video surfaced showing that he had lied to a judge about the reason he punched a man in the face in January. Kessler claimed the man he assaulted had been the aggressor.
Twitter, which recently made public statements about fighting hate speech on its platform, says the blue check mark is used to inform people “that an account of public interest is authentic.”
“A verified badge does not imply an endorsement by Twitter,” the site’s policy states.
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