Twitter's Public Verification Process Is Coming Back in 2021

After shuttering the public verification process more than three years ago, Twitter is relaunching the system – with some changes.

Recently, the company stated it plans to reopen the public verification application process in early 2021 after collecting feedback about the process.

As Twitter says in the announcement:

“We plan to relaunch verification, including a new public application process, in early 2021. But first, we need to update our verification policy with your help.
This policy 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.”

While many of the changes are yet to be cemented until the platform has gathered more feedback, Twitter has given some insight into how it will be approaching verification.

Who Can Be Verified?

According to the announcement, you must meet two criteria to be verified.

“To receive the blue badge, your account must be notable and active.”

The first half of this means that six different types of public figures, organizations, or companies are eligible for the public verification process.

These are:

Government
Companies, Brands and Non-Profit Organizations
News
Entertainment
Sports
Activists, Organizers, and Other Influential Individuals

As for being active, Twitter defines this based on 4 factors:

Completion: Accounts must have a full profile name and bio, as well as profile and banner images.
Present: You must have logged onto Twitter at least once in the past 6 months.
Secure: The account must have a confirmed email address or phone number.
Following Twitter’s Rules: Accounts that have been locked for 12-hours or 7-days due to user conduct within the past 6 months are not eligible for verification. The only exception is if you have successfully appealed the account suspension.

Prohibited Types of Accounts

Some types of accounts will also be ineligible for the public verification process, even if they meet the “notable and active” requirements. These include:

Parody, newsfeed, commentary, or fan accounts.
Accounts for pets or fictional characters unless directly affiliated with a verified brand or entertainment production. This means that a verified account for Scooby-Doo would be allowed if the account is operated by Hannah-Barbera or one of the channels it airs on, but not one operated by you or me.
Accounts which have engaged in severe violations of Twitter’s guidelines on platform manipulation or spam, such as buying or selling followers or retweets.
Accounts representing individuals or groups linked to harmful or hateful activity.

Of course, Twitter reserves the right to revoke an account’s verification at any time. This could occur for a variety of reasons, including:

Letting the account become incomplete or inactive.
The individual is no longer in the public position which made them eligible for verification.
Violations of Twitter’s rules and guidelines.

Subject To Change

Currently, nothing is set in stone regarding the public verification process when it comes in 2021. Even the posted policies could be tweaked or changed before the final version is implemented.

To help decide on any changes, Twitter is holding an open feedback period from November 24, 2020 to December 8, 2020. If you would like to provide your opinion, you can by completing this survey.