For years, women and people of color have complained about the abuse they suffer online—specifically through social media. The issues they cite are not surprising. Sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination and bigotry don’t simply vanish just because people are engaging virtually. If anything, those behaviors become worse because many people feel comfortable saying hateful things through a computer knowing they don’t have to do so face-to-face. Social media allows certain degrees of anonymity for those who want it and anonymity is a troll’s best friend.
For some time now, social media users have been trying to hold platforms accountable for protecting them against harm from other users who use hate speech and violate the platform’s terms of agreement. This charge, led by black women (which is also the demographic that spends the most time on social media), has been met with little to no success. But it should shock no one that these platforms, led by white men, are uninterested in protecting black women online. While Facebook is a problematic favorite in this way (they are notorious for banning racial justice advocates who speak out against racism instead of, you know, actual racist users), Twitter also routinely fails to protect its users. Recently Twitter came out and said that they were going to be much stricter about enforcing its terms of use. But, instead, they’ve shown that they are actually just fine with white supremacists using their platform.
One of the “new” rules Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey outlined in his Oct. 13 tweet thread was a more aggressive stance against “hate symbols” and “violent groups.” How is it, then, that Twitter verified the account of the white nationalist who organized the rally in Charlottesville, Va.—especially when said white nationalist has as his header photo the No. 1 image associated with white racism and hate: the Confederate flag?
Clearly not everyone in this country is on the same page about the Confederate flag and what it represents. So while the flag may be vile to so many of us, that in itself, may not constitute a reason for banning a user on Twitter. But let’s look closer at Jason Kessler, the user in question here.
Jason Kessler tweets under the handle @TheMadDimension. His bio says he is a freelance writer who has written for GotNews, Daily Caller and VDARE. He also identifies himself as the organizer of the Unite the Right rally, aka the Charlottesville riot that ended with the death of Heather Heyer, a counterprotester who was killed when one of Kessler’s many followers plowed a vehicle into a crowd of people who had beliefs that differed from his own. [...]
The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Kessler as an “extremist” with a white nationalist ideology; he is included on the SPLC Hatewatch website.
So who from Twitter looked into this guy’s background and thought they should verify his account? Verification on the platform means that it’s an account of public interest and it’s authentic. We know that Kessler is a real person, sure, but is this an account that is in the interest of the public? Does Twitter want to be the platform for white nationalists and murderers? At what point does Twitter, as an organization, actually have the moral courage to say some users are too toxic and hateful to be allowed a space on their site?
This is one of Jason Kessler’s most recent tweets:
Here’s another, written right after the rally that he organized in Charlottesville killed Heather Heyer.
Who knows what Twitter actually defines as hate symbols and violent groups, but it seems like Jason Kessler fits the criteria. But banning him would actually require them to stand up and do something. And if they won’t ban the hateful Tweeter-In-Chief in the White House, they aren’t likely to ban this guy either.