Why can't I get verified on Twitter when I'm being impersonated yet Elvis can?
I’m Kevin Healey, a national autism campaigner, living with autism, and for the last three years I have been impersonated by trolls on Twitter. For all Twitter’s talk about putting a stop to abuse, it has ignored my repeated requests to protect my account.
No, I’m not a celebrity nor someone with millions of followers, but I raise awareness of autism every single day through social media. After trolls cloned my face and bio, I asked Twitter in San Francisco to verify my account and never received a response. Even my celebrity supporters wrote to the previous CEO Dick Costolo but got no reply (this was before he made his comments that Twitter had 'sucked' at dealing with trolls and abuse).
The situation got so bad I had to approach Staffordshire Police to investigate. They, along with my local MP and the police crime commissioner for Staffordshire, all took up my case with Twitter UK. Even after all these requests, my account remains unverified, with Twitter telling them “he does not meet the eligibility criteria”.
Twitter says it only verifies people like journalists, MPs and celebrities, although other national campaigners like me have been verified, including Shy Keenan and Denise Fergus. Bizarrely, even some dead celebrities, including Elvis, have been given verified accounts.
Twitter shouts about safety and protection but can’t protect me, a real person suffering from daily abuse and impersonation. Other platforms have verified my account including Facebook and David Beckham’s social media platform #myeye, so I can’t see why this is such a big issue for Twitter.
Some people have said to me that even if Twitter does verify my account I will still be impersonated. Fair point. But being verified will then show people who the real me is.
Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s European chief, recently spoke out about abuse on the social network, saying: “We have spent longer and put more effort into user safety than any other issue. The measures we’ve taken correlate directly with a reduction in the amount of bad behaviour on the platform.” So surely it would not harm Twitter to protect my online safety?
Because of my autism I feel I'm being singled out. I use Twitter as a lifeline of social interaction to communicate with the outside world and interact with people. It is vital for my campaigning work and raising awareness of autism in the UK. At the moment I feel like one person fighting a huge social media giant. Last year I quit the site but my supporters and people I help with autism asked me to come back.
I don't want to campaign about Twitter, I just want protection online.
Autism ambassador and campaigner Kevin Healey is the founder of Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society, trustee for the National Autistic Society and campaigns on anti-bullying issues. His real Twitter account is @kevin_healey
The Drum has approached Twitter about Kevin Healey's claims but have not received a response.