Twitter Revokes Louis Farrakhan’s Blue Check Over Anti-Semitic Tirade

Twitter has pulled the “blue check” verification badge from Louis Farrakhan’s official Twitter page after the Nation of Islam leader went on (another) anti-Semitic tirade last week.

Farrakhan has been under fire for months for anti-Semitic tirades, and thanks in no small part to CNN’s Jake Tapper, so are progressives who are tied to him. Notably among those are organizers of the Women’s March on D.C., who have yet to disavow him. In fact, one of the march’s founders, Tamika Mallory, continues to actively support Farrakhan and was dropped from an event in Australia over her support and her own anti-Semitic comments.

Here in the United States, consequences for these public, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel positions have been few and far between in years past. This year, however, there has been some fallout among Democrats as it became harder to deny or hide Farrakhan’s views from public scrutiny, or to explain them away as not being racist or hateful. Which may be why, after some time, there are now some repercussions.

And so it is that last week Farrakhan tweeted his latest rant and referred to “Satanic Jews” in the tweet. Twitter noticed and it was enough to have his verification badge pulled.

Thoroughly and completely unmasking the Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan.

Full Video: https://t.co/N5KXtakhpl pic.twitter.com/zRgSKcAsZj

— MINISTER FARRAKHAN (@LouisFarrakhan) June 7, 2018

Pollster Frank Luntz called attention to the tweet on Thursday.

Hey @Jack, how is this any different from the neo-Nazis whom you’ve banned from Twitter? https://t.co/SnFqrPM6A7

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) June 7, 2018

Luntz applauded Twitter’s move on Friday.

Twitter has removed Louis Farrakhan’s verified status. 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/Wl9ricZIyL

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) June 8, 2018

But it wasn’t until Sunday that the news started to become news, when the Daily Wire’s Joseph Curl characterized the move as essentially toothless.

“He’s still on the site, mind you, able to blast to his 481,000 followers,” wrote Curl. “There’s just no check mark.”

Curl finds the action inadequate and certainly some accounts (particularly on the right) have been dealt with more harshly even for lesser offenses, but it is an action that might have been unthinkable just a few years ago.