Twitter relaunches verification: here are the new criteria to become verified

Twitter has brought its blue tick verification feature back after more than three years and applications will be open to any public account that meets the new criteria and wants to be verified.

The social media platform announced the relaunch on 20 May.

“Today’s application rollout marks the next milestone in our plans to give more transparency, credibility, and clarity to verification on Twitter,” the company said in a statement.

The blue ticks are used to identify and authenticate popular or important accounts.

As part of the relaunch, Twitter has introduced new guidelines for verified accounts. The guidelines aim to encourage positive interactions between Twitter users. If a verified account repeatedly breaks the rules, it will lose its verification status.

Twitter stopped accepting submissions for verification in November 2017. At the time, it said users were seeing verifications as company endorsements and not just as a way to authenticate someone’s identity on the platform.

New criteria to become verified on Twitter

Starting today and during the next few weeks, Twitter will roll out verification applications to all users. The process will be available in the account settings tab on the Twitter app.

To qualify for verification, a Twitter account must fall into one of six categories. The categories are:

• Government
• Companies, brands, and organisations
• News organisations and journalists
• Entertainment
• Sports and gaming
• Activists, organisers, and other influential or notable individuals

Accounts must have a profile name, image, and either a confirmed phone number or email address. Also, the account must have been active within the last six months and not have broken any of Twitter’s rules.

For users who do not fall into one of the categories, but who may be notable in other ways, Twitter has set out a table of criteria for notability.

You can see the table below:

Twitter says that people will need to meet at least one of the criteria in Column A and Column B to qualify.

The company also notes that it may verify accounts that do not meet these criteria but have expertise or a role that relates to a matter of high public interest. For example, medical professionals during a pandemic or safety officials reporting on natural disasters.

Once you apply, Twitter will send a response via email. If you are approved, a blue tick badge will immediately appear on your profile.

Twitter will let users resubmit applications 30 days after they’ve been initially denied.

You can find out more about the new verification programme and how to become verified on the Twitter support website.

Feature image: Twitter

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