Twitter’s renewed verification policy is will be launched on January 20, 2021, after Twitter paused the formal application process for more than three years. The new policy was refined with input from tens of thousands of user comments after Twitter confirmed in November that verification would restart next year.
That January date isn’t when the formal application process will restart, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer if you’re itching to get a blue check mark. Applications will open sometime in “early 2021,” a Twitter spokesperson said The edge. But on January 20, the new policy goes into effect and the company says it will remove verification badges from inactive accounts and accounts that don’t meet the new requirements.
Some of the new verification policy changes include more lax requirements for profile information to be eligible for verification, more detailed and defined categories for verification badges, and new guidelines for when a verified account can lose its blue check mark if inactive or in violation is. of Twitter’s policies.
The new categories include government officials – which Twitter has already verified on a case-by-case basis since the official process was interrupted – and companies, brands and nonprofits. It also includes media outlets and journalists, entertainment figures and organizations, sports-related accounts and a broad category of “activists, organizers and other influential people”. Twitter says it is open to expanding its list of categories over time.
thank you to everyone who shared feedback – we received over 22,000 responses to our survey, allowing us to make significant changes to the policies you see today
– B (@iamb) December 17, 2020
Next year, Twitter plans to introduce a way to label accounts that are either automated or once belong to a deceased person. “We do not plan to automatically remove the verified badge from inactive accounts of people who are no longer alive, and are working on a way to commemorate these accounts in 2021,” said Twitter’s blog post.
Twitter says, “This will also come with an updated commemoration policy and a new request flow to request an account’s commemoration,” while at some point in the future, automated accounts will be distinguished from human-managed accounts “to make it easier. Before people know what a bot is and what isn’t. ”Twitter has not yet announced what these labels will look like or how proactively it will enforce the label requirement on bot accounts.
For human-managed accounts, the company says that as long as the account holder makes changes before January 20 to bring the account into line with the new verification requirements, there is no risk of losing an existing badge. This includes an account having a verified email address or phone number, profile picture, and display name. The company also plans to inform those at risk of losing their badge of what they need to change to keep it before any action is taken.
Twitter reserves the right to remove verification. “Our policy also allows us to remove verification from accounts that are found to be in serious or repeated violation of Twitter Rules. We will continue to evaluate such accounts on a case-by-case basis and will improve the relationship between enforcement and verification in 2021, ”the blog post continues. “As always, everyone on Twitter is subject to the Twitter Rules, and you can read more about our range of enforcement actions here.”
For users who wish to apply to be verified, Twitter will launch a new ‘self-service application’ process within the app sometime in early 2021, which will allow applicants to select a category for verification and confirm their identity. Twitter says it will use human judgment as well as an automated system to wade through requests.
Update December 17, 5:44 PM ET: Clarified that Twitter plans to start its verification request process sometime in early 2021 and that January 20 is the date the new policy will take effect.