Twitter has announced that it is officially relaunching its verification process in early 2021. With that, the social media platform has also posted a draft version of the guidelines they will use to determine if you’re worthy of a blue verified badge.
Twitter closed down its initial verification program in 2017 after several controversies—including multiple white supremacists being verified through the system. With their new plans to relaunch the program, they are soliciting public feedback on Twitter’s guideline draft.
“We are not accepting any new requests at this time, however we plan to make it possible to apply for a verified badge starting in 2021,” wrote Twitter.
How to get verified on Twitter
To receive that blue verified badge, your account “must represent or otherwise be associated with a prominently recognised individual or brand”. You must also be one of six types of accounts: government officials, brands/nonprofits, news, entertainment, sports, and activists.
Twitter also goes in full detail for each type of account. For example, an account in entertainment can be verified if the connection to a verified organisation is clear on the account’s profile, and includes a link to the website associated with the account.
For individual accounts of artists, performers, directors, and others, you can be verified if you have a link to the site associated with the account, have 5 production credits on their IMDB profile, and “have 3 or more featured references within the 6 months” prior to applying in news outlets that meet their News criteria. Guidelines for other types of accounts are posted here.
Besides needing to fit into an account category, Twitter also states that you “must be active with a record of adherence to the Twitter Rules”. This means that you need to have a complete profile, must have logged into the account in the last six months, have a confirmed email address or phone number, and must not have had a 12-hour or 7-day lockout for violating the Twitter Rules in the past six months.
There is also a guideline for ineligible accounts. They include accounts for things like parodies, newsfeeds, commentaries, and fan accounts, as well as accounts engaged in violations like buying and selling of followers, and accounts of individuals or groups associated with coordinated harmful activity, or hateful content. Accounts for pets and fictional characters are also ineligible for the blue badge—unless directly affiliated with a verified Company, Brand, or Organisation.
And if you received the blue badge, Twitter may take it away from you at any time and without notice. For them to do so, you’d need to impersonate or intentionally mislead people on Twitter by changing your display name or bio, or make several Twitter violations.
Of course, the blue badge isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather enjoy Twitter not as a public figure, the platform recently introduced Fleets, which you can now play around with. It’s a new disappearing messaging feature that currently sits right at the top of the timeline in a row.
