After derailing Hillary, WikiLeaks sets sights on 'verified' Twitter handles
- Whistleblower organisation plans to make a database of all 'verified' Twitter handles and their relations.
- At least 237,000 Twitter handles are believed to be verified.
- The microblogging site has criticised the plan.
FollowWhistleblower site WikiLeaks has been credited for helping prepare the ground for Donald Trump’s historic upset victory over Hillary Clinton, by publishing confidential emails associated with the latter. Now, the site has set its eyes on “verified” Twitter accounts.
According to Twitter, an account is certified (signified by a blue badge) as verified by the microblogging site if its credentials are deemed as authentic. Twitter verifies an account if it is deemed to be of public interest; such accounts are typically associated with politics, business, government, media and other prominent sectors. At least 237,000 Twitter accounts are believed to be verified.
On January 6, a Twitter handle associated with WikiLeaks, WikiLeaks Task Force, put out a tweet (since deleted) that it was planning to create an online database of “Twitter accounts & their family/job/financial/housing relationships.” In an official response, Twitter stated that the disclosure of private and confidential information was a violation of its rules.
Following criticism, the Task Force later released another tweet, stating its intention was not to publish personal details but look at the “network of ‘relationships’ that influence” using proximity graphs. WikiLeaks also criticised the media for fear mongering, adding that online platforms such as Facebook, Google, Wikipedia and LinkedIn has been using such relationship graphs to improve their offerings. WikiLeaks claims that the database is aimed at improving its artificial intelligence software.
.@DaleInnis @kevincollier As we stated the idea is to look at the network of *relationships* that influence -- not to publish addresses.
— WikiLeaks Task Force (@WLTaskForce) January 6, 2017
Ironically, WikiLeaks itself suffered a hacking attack on the eve of the U.S. elections; Twitter also suffered an outage shortly thereafter. The whistleblower site had run a systematic campaign on alleged corruption in the Hillary Clinton campaign.
