Twitter Inc. announced on Wednesday that blue-checkmarked verified accounts could lose their status, following criticism last week about the verified status of white nationalist Jason Kessler’s account.

The company accepted responsibility for the confusion around what a verified account actually meant, and that it was assumed by the members of the public to be an endorsement. Twitter said it will begin unverifying accounts that don’t meet with the new guidelines.

“Verification has long been perceived as an endorsement,” the company said in a tweet. “’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.”

Deverification will include any accounts involved in harassment, that promote violence or hate, or that attack or threaten “people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.”

“We are conducting an initial review of verified accounts and will remove verification from accounts whose behavior does not fall within these new guidelines,” Twitter wrote. Soon after the policy change, a number of accounts lost their verification status.

Kessler was quick to remark that the changes were a result of his actions, writing in a tweet, “Twitter has changed their verification policy just to be able to censor me.” Kessler also mentioned a number of other accounts that lost their badges, including white supremacist Richard Spencer and right-wing political commentator James Allsup.

Other notable accounts that lost their verified status were English Defense League founder and right-wing activist Tommy Robinson and “alt-right” American political activist Laura Loomer.

Twitter just emailed me to tell me they are removing my “verified badge” because they claim my account “doesn’t comply with Twitter’s guidelines for verified accounts.”

Translation: I’m a conservative. pic.twitter.com/F1AsxWI6Fm

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) November 15, 2017

Twitter wrote that it is working on a new way to verify accounts, but in the meantime anyone not adhering to the new guidelines will see a change. The company said it will not be verifying any new users until it has figured out the best plan of action.

Image: John Benson via Flickr