Seth Abramson

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@JagsForever See the thread. I believe they should take a much more expansive view of notability and have always felt this. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@abobrow Elon says he killed this plan. Only officials and brands will get special designation—not relating to their badge color but just some gray text underneath it. *All other public figures* will now be indistinguishable from Twitter Blue users who have not verified their identity. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

But the rest of what’s happening is just exhausting. When your content moderation policies haven’t changed but you are nevertheless finding yourself losing advertisers and hurling public threats at them, it’s time to step back and realize that positive change can be incremental. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Twitter has room for improvement; it isn’t broken. If Elon wants to end some suspensions or bans he can use a Content Moderation Council to determine if it’s appropriate; his verification team can work on verifying more folks. Twitter Blue users can have different colored badges. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

No one is going to forget that Elon Musk owns Twitter. But it’s absolutely in his best interest financially to ensure that the users of his service are almost never thinking about that fact. Why? Because 99% of us want to be able to enjoy a service without thinking about its CEO. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Right now all Elon thinks about is his own emotional investment in Twitter, one built atop a staggering financial investment. He seems less aware that hundreds of millions of others have an equal or greater emotional investment and that now this space feels like his and not ours. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

In fact, I would go further and say that, on average, public figures are probably less worthy of respect than those who are not public figures. That has been my own experience of the world, in any case. It is condescending of Elon to think that Twitter users cannot see this also. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

A badge doesn’t confer worth. And Elon knows—as I’ve no doubt he gets hate mail, as I do—that no one on Twitter thinks we’re special because we have badges. So let’s stop the “power to the people” charade; people can accept that public figures exist without thinking them special. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@TripTLFantastic @amy_m_kg It is definitely not about worthiness. A badge in no way confers worth. It only does so if someone decides it does. And I can tell you from all the hate mail I get that plenty of people are quite confident a badge means nothing. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

The debilitating verification debacle appears to be a solution in search of a problem. As Trevor Noah pointed out, Elon repeatedly contradicts his own explanations. It’s time to just say that badges are fine and identity/public-figure verification matters because it’s a UX issue. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Twitter could use blue badges to indicate the more than 3 million people who are public figures, officials, brands or otherwise require verification for eldritch reasons; a different color for those who’ve simply verified their identity; and another color for those who haven’t. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

I’ll say again what I’ve said a long time: Twitter should have verified many *more* people than it has. Right now 432,000 people have been verified, which is such a large group that it’s hardly a caste system. But two or three million more people probably meet the qualifications. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

What’s lost in all this is consideration for users—who may or may not agree with a particular person being verified but who damn sure want to know that an account belongs to who it says it belongs to *and* the vast majority of the time have no objection to verification decisions. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

It seems to me that Elon has a strong desire to punish people he dislikes by taking away their verification, but because he doesn’t think he can get away with doing this—personally deciding something like this as a tyrant—he’s decided to destroy the entire system of verification. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@MGW417 No — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Alternately, Twitter could use a different color badge for verification that was purchased without selection or identity confirmation. Unless the sole purpose of all these changes is to denigrate the work—which raised enormous revenue for Twitter—of currently verified accounts. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

This is what I see when I click on my “verified” badge. If you click the badge of someone who purchased verification without confirming identity or being selected for verification, a different message appears. Twitter could use this to distinguish official/public-figure accounts. https://t.co/LZWLr22kz4 — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: America owes a debt of gratitude it can never repay to Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), @RepElaineLuria, who courageously served… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: America owes a debt of gratitude it can never repay to Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), @RepElaineLuria, who courageously served… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

They did not and they will not. Anyone who thinks MAGA will change does not understand MAGA. MAGA is pure nihilism. It’s weaponized hopelessness—a gun with the words “a better tomorrow” roughly scratched into its barrel. And a gun will always be a gun. https://t.co/rzfd9pM8Qi — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @verge: Mario flipped off Twitter for nearly two hours with the blessing of Musk’s "verification" https://t.co/eTwGrv0PsR https://t.co/a… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

America owes a debt of gratitude it can never repay to Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), @RepElaineLuria, who courageously served on the House January 6 Committee despite facing a tough re-election race that she ultimately lost narrowly. Will you please RETWEET so we can thank her here? https://t.co/9cLQGLNkt8 — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

(🚨) If you voted in CO-03, read this: — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@DerekAdamThomas Uh... who said that? — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

(📢) BREAKING NEWS: Based on Local Reporting Analyzing Remaining Ballots, Boebert Appears Poised to Lose Her Seat (There may be overseas and curable ballots—and there are a few thousand Dem-leaning ballots remaining to be counted—but the best current analysis sees a Frisch win.) — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

(📢) BREAKING NEWS: Based on Local Reporting Analyzing Remaining Ballots, Boebert Appears Poised to Lose Her House Seat (There may be overseas ballots, ballots that can be cured, and a few hundred remaining ballots to be counted, but the best current analysis sees a Frisch win.) — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@FactsMatter314 Yes—in fact a majority. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

(PS) Based on the county-by-county votes remaining, it certainly *looks* like Frisch has the advantage in the few remaining votes to be counted (in addition to having the lead now). But we’ll see. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

👀 https://t.co/647yq3QSHx — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @mmasnick: I see the "verification" system is going juuuuuuuuuuuust great. https://t.co/Ck8N5WTReb — PolitiTweet.org