If you’ve always been confused about who gets the blue checkmark and who gets to keep it, you’re not alone. Twitter’s somewhat controversial verification process was pretty much a mess and so they put it on hold three years ago. But now it looks like they’re set to revive and revise the public verification process and with the changes they are going to implement, hopefully, settle the debate once and for all about this sought-after blue checkmark.
At first, Twitter was the one who determined which accounts got verified but this was called to question since they did not publish any criteria. They then opened a public verification process where the individuals, companies, and organizations had to apply to get the blue checkmark and validation that they are “legit”. But even that was also pretty much confusing since there were no clear cut rules that applied to everyone and even the punishment of having that blue check removed was pretty arbitrary.
So now they’re set to relaunch the public verification by early 2021. But before that, they are conducting a survey for users of the platform to get feedback on how this verification process should be done. They are also consulting with non-government organizations to get their perspective on this matter. The first thing they are going to change is to define different kinds of “Notable Accounts” that are eligible for that blue checkmark. They are also going to come up with new account types and labels although no details have been given yet.
The new rules will also include automatically removing the blue checkmark for accounts that are inactive or have incomplete profiles. They did not mention if the current rules on how you lose verified account status will still apply, like regularly violating Twitter policies and all that. This should not change of course but there should be more clearly defined rules on how you can lose that badge.
We’ll probably hear more about this revised verification process after they have conducted the survey. But if they are targeting early 2021 for implementation, we’ll probably know more in the next few weeks.
