“We made it! Access to the application to request Verification is now available to everyone globally,” Twitter Verified tweeted Thursday. “If you’re ready to apply, head over to your account settings to get started.” Twitter had halted its account verification program last month after it incorrectly verified several fake accounts. The company had verified accounts that hadn’t posted a single tweet and used stock images for profile pictures. Most of the accounts in question were created around the same day and had mostly the same followers. This suggested they were part of a botnet. The company said it wanted to “make improvements to the application and review process” to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. It last week announced that account verification requests will soon roll out again. Much to that promise, Twitter has now opened the program to everyone globally.
Twitter has had a hard time perfecting its account verification system
Twitter hasn’t been finding it easy to verify notable accounts on its platform. The company suspended the program back in November 2017 following widespread criticism over its decision to verify a white supremacist account. Three years later, in November 2020, it came back with a revamped policy categorizing accounts into six different types. Each type of account needs to meet certain criteria to be eligible for verification. The company eventually re-opened the verification program in May this year but it has been a stop-start affair since. The first pause came just after a week of re-opening because Twitter received way too many applications to handle. The program resumed a few days later after it had cleared the backlog. But Twitter ran into another problem last month after it incorrectly verified several fake accounts. The company went back to the drawing board and has likely made some changes to the policy. It’s now accepting new requests once again. As the company notes, verification is only for notable people or groups within its aforementioned six eligible categories. If you feel like you are eligible for that ‘blue tick’ verified badge on Twitter, you can apply for it. Simply go to the Settings and privacy menu in the sidebar, tap Account » Verification request and follow the on-screen instructions to submit the request.
