At a time the company is facing gobal heat over regulatory compliance, Twitter has announced to restart its verification process from January 22.
According to anlysts, the company’s move is widely viewed as a measure to verify more accounts and it will be able to get the blue tick mark from the social network.
Twitter said it will be re-launching the self-serve application portal for the public to apply for verification in 2021. According to Twitter, for an account to be verified, it must be notable and active. There are six types of ‘notable’ accounts on Twitter:
Government
Companies, brands and non-profit organisations
News organisations and journalists
Entertainment
Sports and esports
Activists, organisers, and other influential individuals
Twitter says it has received suggestions adding more categories including academics, scientists and religious leaders, and that it is planning to add dedicated categories for these sometime later this year. But until then, if users fall in any of these categories, you may qualify under ‘Activists, organisers, and other influential individuals.
One may lose their badge if they change their account name, or if their account becomes inactive or incomplete, or if they are no longer in the position they initially were verified for – such as an elected government official who leaves office – and also if an account does not otherwise meet Twitter’s criteria for verification.
Twitter says it may remove the blue verified badge and verified status of a Twitter account at any time and without notice in accordance with its Terms of Service. Additionally, the service may also remove the blue badge from accounts that are found to be in severe or repeated violation of the Twitter Rules.
Removal of the verification badge based on repeated violations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and is not automatic. Severe and repeated violation happens when an account that impersonates or intentionally misleads people on Twitter by changing their display name or bio.
Twitter says that it will soon be relaunching the self-serve application portal for the public to apply for verification in 2021. The process will include asking applicants to select a category for their verified status and confirming their identity via links and other supporting materials.
Twitter has already started sending email and in-app notifications to accounts that are at risk of losing their verified badge to inform them of what changes are needed to be made to avoid automatic removal of their blue verified badge. As long as they make those changes before January 22, their account will not lose its badge.
