From this Thursday, the verification will begin to be available again at a global level, although not all users may be able to access it at the same time. The rules and criteria for accessing this status changed after a review process that included user comments.
Twitter will begin to implement a new process for the verification of accounts in this social network, after a redesign of the policy that guides this action, the company reported.
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Verification is a tool that allows validating the authenticity of profiles that have a high interest from the public. These users are recognized by a blue badge, which accompanies the presentation of these accounts. According to the company, this feature “gives people on Twitter more context about who they are chatting with so they can determine if it is trustworthy, which our research has shown leads to healthier and more informed conversations.”
The new application to access the verification will be launched this Thursday and will be progressively deployed globally. In other words, not all users can access it from tomorrow, “but it will appear over time,” according to a company spokesperson.
At the moment, the users who can request that their account be marked as verified are those related to these categories:
-Government.
-Companies, brands and organizations.
-News and journalists organizations.
-Entertainment.
-Sports and games.
-Activists, organizers and other influential people.
Each of these categories has its own requirements to access account verification, which can be consulted on this site. Likewise, the profiles must be complete, that is, have a name, an image, a confirmed email address and a telephone number. Finally, the accounts must “have a history of compliance with the Twiter rules,” according to a statement released by the company.
In turn, Twitter assured that by the middle of this year more categories will be included in this process, such as “scientists, academics and religious leaders.”
The verification of the accounts was introduced in June 2009 and, curiously, the first profile to receive this treatment was that of the CDC, one of the world’s leading organizations in terms of health guidelines in the midst of the pandemic. for example.
However, the verification was suspended in November 2017, amid comments and criticism about the criteria used to grant the status (or withdraw it). As part of the changes implemented now, the company opened the entire process for public comment, with 33,000 messages during this feedback stage, which was opened in November 2020. By December of last year, the company already had a draft of its new policy on this issue.
Follow the news of El Espectador on Google News“The verification process is important because it helps to give more context about the content and interactions that users have on the platform, with the aim of improving the conversation,” says a company spokesperson.
One of the problems that account verification used to have was the opacity of the selection criteria to access that status. From now on, the selection policy, with the requirements for each category, is public. And any user can apply for verification. “Yes, it will be more work, but we think this can help improve the conversation on the site,” according to the spokesperson.
The response to the verification request can take between one and four weeks, depending on how many accounts the team handling this issue has. If the verification is denied, the user can request it again 30 days after receiving the first negative.
Here’s an important point: the decision to grant, or withdraw, verified status depends on a human, although part of the process is automated to speed it up, the company confirmed.
This is particularly important because one of the requirements to access and retain verification is not to violate Twitter’s rules. And, although these have clear compliance parameters, it is not entirely clear what will happen, for example, when a politician’s account is suspended or access to a message that is considered incitement to violence is removed.
In the first instance, Twitter ensures that, as regards the verification process, the account cannot have had a 12-hour or seven-day suspension in the last 12 months. However, he also admits that each case will be looked at individually.
This point is important because, at least in Colombia, figures from the political world (with greater or lesser public recognition) have been admonished with suspensions in their accounts, or deleted messages, for violating the rules of the platform (mainly by publications that incite the hate).
Also read: Suspended Twitter accounts: an abuse of power?
By July of this year, Twitter plans to introduce a new identification method for automated accounts, popularly known as bots. “We know that bots have a bad reputation, but there are profiles of this type that are very useful for users, such as those who have information on vaccine availability or who provide up-to-date information on the state of the weather,” said the spokesperson.
The changes in the profile will allow to identify more clearly that it is an automated account, which will help to interact in a better way with it, on the one hand, but it can also help to build trust around these tools, at least the ones they offer information and are not made to manipulate electoral processes, for example. “Trust in automated accounts is just as important as trust in people’s accounts,” the spokesperson emphasized.
