Knicks' Enes Kanter Was Stripped of His Twitter Verification and Wants to Know Why

Enes Kanter must have upset the wrong person working at Twitter.
The Knicks big man realized late Sunday that he was no longer verified on the social media website. To the average Twitter user, it simply means that there is no longer a blue check next to Kanter's name on his account and if you want to make sure that it's the real Enes Kanter who is tweeting, you can either look through his followers and hope that around 516,000 people wouldn't follow a fake Enes Kanter account, or just remember that the he can be found @Enes_Kanter.
The reason behind Kanter losing his blue check though, is very much up in the air. According to Twitter, verification is awarded to let users know that "an account of public interest is authentic" and an account maintained by a user involved in sports, among many other categories, qualifies as an account that can be verified.
Haha Yoo!! 🤪
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 27, 2017
Even the freaking @Twitter
against me 🤨
Lol 😂
Why did you take my blue check away ?? 🤔
You unverified me 🤬
That’s messed up 😱
Twitter has the right to remove verification at any time without warning, but there is a specific list of reasons for why verification can be stripped. Outside of violating Twitter's rules, an offense that can get an account suspended, Twitter also lists the following as reasons verification can be taken away:
• Intentionally misleading people on Twitter by changing one's display name or bio.
• Promoting hate and/or violence against, or directly attacking or threatening other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease. Supporting organizations or individuals that promote the above.
• Inciting or engaging in harassment of others.
• Violence and dangerous behavior, which includes A) Directly or indirectly threatening or encouraging any form of physical violence against an individual or any group of people, including threatening or promoting terrorism or B) Violent, gruesome, shocking, or disturbing imagery or C) Self-harm, suicide
Since Friday, Kanter has tweeted or retweeted the following tweets:
And we back. pic.twitter.com/g2hSAigrjP
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 24, 2017
Game Day
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 24, 2017
🔶🔷#Knicks pic.twitter.com/SVeQ9YaRLD
🇹🇷 🇺🇸 🇱🇻 pic.twitter.com/1J5OmXMkgt
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 24, 2017
😔
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 24, 2017
Enes Kanter, who sat with back spasms, took this loss hard: "If you’re looking for who to blame, you guys can blame me. Because I was just here like a little baby trying to get my back right. So it’s tough to see my teammates battling in a war, and I’m just here like a crybaby."
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) November 25, 2017
"I'll take the blame for tonight." - @Enes_Kanter#Knicks https://t.co/gScI2dquCZ
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) November 25, 2017
Kerem has 10 points already, including the last six for Xavier! pic.twitter.com/0PaNH47uk4
— Xavier Gameday (@XavierGameday) November 24, 2017
Let’s work together to increase solidarity and sharing. Cooperation helps to build better and more peaceful societies.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 2, 2017
#StayTogether pic.twitter.com/M90Mq74sbo
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 26, 2017
Change starts with us as individuals. If one individual becomes more compassionate it will influence others and so we will change the world.
— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) September 6, 2016
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 27, 2017
It's hard to speculate what Kanter could have been doing on Twitter to lose his verification, but it would be odd if tweets about the Knicks or retweeting the Pope or Dalai Lama is what can get you unverified on Twitter.
Maybe a Kevin Durant burner account had it out for Kanter after this tweet Wednesday:
Hell Yeah!!! #ThunderUp
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 23, 2017
Proud of my boooooyyysssss 💙⚡️
Is it possible that Kanter, who allegedly had his passport revokedat the order of the Turkish government, is in trouble with a world leader after one of these tweets:
What!!! 😧 Wow!!! 🤐https://t.co/njqfLzE8aj
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 19, 2017
Thanks Canada for letting me in your beautiful country.
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 18, 2017
Just wanted to say huge thanks to prime minister @JustinTrudeau
You are the MAN!!!
What a warm people, amazing and respectful country.#Respect 🇨🇦🙏 pic.twitter.com/fhvW6IZaSy
Revoke my passport haha 😂
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 16, 2017
Ain’t no one stopping me 😉
Not even you #DictatorErdogan 💯
Much love from Canada 🇨🇦 ❤️@RT_Erdogan 😘 pic.twitter.com/OXJ4Xw0yRd
Hopefully, Kanter gets his blue check back soon so we can all be certain that we are reading the words of @Enes_Kanter are authentic.
