What is happening with Twitter Blue?

This weekend I had the misfortune of having two tweets go viral. At first it was all good fun. In one I asked people to tell me that they were "in a cult without saying they were in a cult" and received many hilarious replies. But as the tweet picked up steam everything suddenly morphed into a string of conspiracy theories, racism, sexism and anger that I was a bit surprised by for what I thought would be just a funny, innocuous, tweet.  Then I noticed a large number of newly "verified accounts" were posting the majority of the offensive content. 

As you no doubt have noticed, social media companies have begun to redefine what their blue verification badges mean, and opened up the program to anyone who can offer up $8/ month.

In this week's video I recount the short history of verification on Twitter that started in 2009 after Kanye West sued the platform over the proliferation of accounts that were trying to impersonate him to what it is today.  From there verification brought journalists, activists and other public figures under its protection and over time the blue badge acquired an element of prestige and everyone wanted a piece of the action.

Unfortunately, when Elon Musk opened up the program to the public, a lot of the people who ponied up cash did so because they want to immediately start spreading abusive content.  Now we are in a weird place where the people with legacy badges are involuntarily advertising Elon's Twitter Blue program.  I think it's time for anyone who got a badge in the old days to get rid of it...if only there was a way.  

Need Help with FOIA?

This is one for the journalists.  Particularly ones who are looking for a FREE lawyer to help them with complex issues.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is one of the most important tools at a journalist's disposal to secure the release of federal records for their reporting. . . at least in principle. 

 But as anyone who has filed a FOIA request knows that the process rarely goes as intended. It can take years to get information, and agencies do everything they can to send you the wrong documents.  And if what you're going after is particularly sensitive, sometimes it takes an actual lawsuit to get the records moving. 

Enter Tuan Samahon—a Villanova University law professor, former FOIA Advisory Committee member, and litigation specialist. Tuan has offered to represent select requesters in the media, academic, and independent author space on a no-cost-to-them basis in federal FOIA cases.

Cases typically don’t involve trials, depositions, or in court witnesses, but are usually won through legal pleadings and motions prepared by your lawyer. Even prior to suing, Tuan will assist you in preparing, filing, and "exhausting" FOIA requests that will be enforceable by a court, shaking loose records more quickly than the usual backlogged timetable.

Tuan has successfully represented requesters up against the CIA, DHS, DOJ, FBI (multiple times), and IRS, among other alphabet soup agencies. Feel free to reach out to him for a free consultation about your investigative research project. You can email him at tsamahon@gmail.com.