Chris Rufo, investigative journalist exposing critical race theory, gets unverified on Twitter after looking into Big Tech

Christopher Rufo

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Investigative journalist Christopher Rufo, who has been exposing critical race theory in academia, government and the private sector, was unverified on Twitter shortly after opening an investigation into the proliferation of the progressive doctrine in Big Tech.

A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a reporter for City Journal, Rufo was informed via an email from Twitter that his account had lost its verification, or “blue checkmark” status. At the same time, Rufo received an alert from Google informing him that his inbox was the target of a “government-backed attack.”

“In the past week, Google has sent me an alert about a ‘government-backed attack’ against my email system and Twitter has unverified my account — just as I began my investigative reporting on critical race theory in Big Tech,” Rufo wrote. “Strange timing, to say the least.” 

In the past week, Google has sent me an alert about a "government-backed attack" against my email system and Twitter has unverified my account—just as I began my investigative reporting on critical race theory in Big Tech.

Strange timing, to say the least.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) September 8, 2021

The email Twitter sent to Rufo notified him that his account no longer met the criteria for verification. The platform’s criteria requires that verified accounts be “authentic,” “notable” and “active.” Under normal circumstances, Rufo’s account would fit the criteria.

“After a recent review, we’ve determined that your Twitter account was incorrectly Verified. This means that the blue badge will be removed from your account,” the email to Rufo read in part. 

Speaking to Rebel News, Rufo expressed his hope that the company would reverse its decision and recognize that it has the responsibility to be neutral in political issues. 

"Twitter is an essential service—it provides individuals with access to the new public square and the ability to have a voice,” Rufo said. “The company has a responsibility to be fair, transparent, and neutral. My ‘unverification’ is another reminder that the company needs to live up to those responsibilities. I hope they reverse this decision. The public should know that my voice is my own. Bending the rules in one direction is wrong.”

Twitter’s de-verification of Rufo comes amid his reporting on Google’s critical race theory-inspired training, which included a graphic titled “The White Supremacy Pyramid” that claims conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, and politicians like Donald Trump drive society towards “mass murder” and “genocide.”

As reported in the City Journal, the tech giant Google launched a so-called “antiracism” initiative that presents speakers and materials claiming America is a “system of white supremacy” and that Americans are “raised to be racist.” 

Rufo wrote:

The program presents a series of video conversations promoting the idea that the United States was founded on white supremacy. In one video, Google’s former global lead for diversity strategy, Kamau Bobb—who was later reassigned to a non-diversity-related role at the company after being exposed for writing that Jews have “an insatiable appetite for war and killing”—discussed America’s founding with 1619 Project editor Nikole Hannah-Jones. Jones claimed that “the first Africans being sold on the White Lion [slave ship in 1619] is more foundational to the American story” than “the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock.” She claimed that she led the New York Times’s 1619 Project—a revisionist historical account of the American founding—to verify her “lifelong theory” that everything in the modern-day United States can be traced back to slavery. “If you name anything in America, I can relate it back to slavery,” Jones said in the video. At the end of the conversation, Jones concluded that all white Americans benefit from the system of white supremacy. “If you’re white in this country, then you have to understand that whether you personally are racist or not, whether you personally engage in racist behavior or not, you are the beneficiary of a 350-year system of white supremacy and racial hierarchy,” she said.