Twitter is working on a new in-app system for requesting verification. The news came to front through Jane M Wong who is famous for reverse engineering apps to find out the next update. A part of Wong’s discovery includes a “Request Verification” option. Twitter mentions that this feature is not yet available to the public.
Getting the blue tick button has always been an ad hoc process. Whereas this may appear to be harmless, i.e., if a celebrity opens a Twitter account, getting a blue tick, should not enrage anyone; however, this has also lead to a few disastrous results. When in 2017 Twitter blue tick/verified account of someone who is an organizer of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
After facing some severe backlash, Twitter had decided to put a pin on verifications and took the time off to figure out how to fix this problem. In late 2018, Twitter’s policy changed, and recently Twitter began verifying authoritative health experts who were tweeting credible information about coronavirus.
However, after taking a break, Twitter has decided to bring back that option that allows individual users to request verification. Moreover, Twitter will also publicly document what qualifies a Twitter user to be verified.
This will be the first time that Twitter is documenting the verification process publicly. For the verification process, Twitter asks for the user’s government ID after providing the necessary information. The verification request will either be successful or rejected depending on the information provided.
Twitter refrained from commenting on when this process will become public or what the new guidelines will state when they become available.
Even though this step was taken after the platform faced scathing criticism over the years, the new verification process would not necessarily put an end to criticism. That, however, does not mean that Twitter would not want to have transparency with its users by making public the guidelines.
