Thursday Tech Crawl: Twitter will remove verification badges if users violate rules

Under new policy, Twitter will remove verification badges if users violate rules

On Wednesday Twitter announced that it will be enacting a new policy that will allow them to remove verification badges from users who violate its rules. 

The Verge says this stems from an unofficial policy that began in January when Twitter removed the badge of “right-wing provocateur” Milo Yiannopoulos and then banned from from the service later.

“Verification has long been perceived as an endorsement,” the company said on its own Twitter account. “We gave verified accounts visual prominence on the service which deepened this perception. We should have addressed this earlier but did not prioritize the work as we should have.”

Also, Recode has this handy guide on all the ways Twitter can punish you besides removing your badge.

An Uber rider is suing the company for hiring driver who raped her

An Uber rider, who is anonymous in the court filing, is suing Uber in California Superior Court, claiming that Uber did not take sufficient measures to protect her from a driver who allegedly raped her in 2016, according to a CNBC news article.

The “Jane Doe” passenger says after getting drinks and taking an Uber ride home she was assaulted. The driver was later charged with “rape by use of drugs.”

 But here’s where her complaint might have merit: she alleges that this driver had previously been charged with committing violetn crimes and that Uber’s background check didn’t pick it up.

What is Uber really worth? Hard to say.

SoftBank Group Corp. is attempting to buy a large stake in Uber Technologies, but the Wall Street Journal reports the intricacies of the deal raise questions about what the tech startup is really worth.

SoftBank wants to pay one price to Uber and a lower one to its shareholders, the Journal says. SoftBank wants to obtain between a 14 percent and 20 percent stake in Uber, according to the newspaper.