Buzzfeed Twitter grapples with “verified” white supremacists as other tech companies crack down on hate speech John Wihbey, a media professor at Northeastern University who has studied Twitter, told BuzzFeed News that it is widely believed verification “generates an additional layer of trust.” Wihbey said the boost in perceived legitimacy may be waning today, (Yiannopoulos also said verification isn’t what it used to be) but the perception still lingers.