Twitter to relaunch blue tick verification, set new guidelines

Twitter has announced that it will relaunch its account verification process in early 2021. The company has released a set of guidelines that will be used in determining whether the user is eligible to get verified on Twitter with a blue tick-mark.

Twitter is bringing back its verification process after three years. The company paused the program in 2017 after having heard the feedback that it felt arbitrary and confusing to many people. The public verification program is set to make a comeback in 2021 with new guidelines. Twitter is also asking users for feedback on a draft proposal for verification.

The verification policy, Twitter said, will lay the foundation for future improvements by defining what verification means, who is eligible for verification, and why some accounts might lose verification to ensure the process is more equitable.

The six types of accounts that would be eligible for the verification program would include

• Government
• Companies, brands, and non-profit organisations
• News
• Entertainment
• Sports
• Activists, organisers, and other influential individuals

Twitter has also proposed the criteria to automatically remove verification from an account if, for example, it's inactive or if the profile is incomplete, as well as grounds to deny or remove verification from certain qualified accounts that are found to be in repeated violation of the Twitter Rules. “We recognise that there are many verified accounts on Twitter who should not be. We plan to start by automatically removing badges from accounts that are inactive or have incomplete profiles to help streamline our work and to expand this to include additional types of accounts over the course of 2021,” Twitter said.

The microblogging website is also planning other ways to distinguish accounts on Twitter with new account types and labels. More information on this will be shared in the coming days.