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Twitter bringing back verification, this time with clearer guidelines

Twitter users might finally have an answer to a nagging question: “How many followers does it take to get verified?”

The answer, previously, was “who knows?” But now, according to social media secret finder Jane Wong and TechCrunch, Twitter will have a new “request verification” option that will specifically lay out what it takes to get verified.

Twitter is working on “Request Verification” ????

(I’m not Twitter employee. I’m not tech support) pic.twitter.com/ED58QsD7kM

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) June 7, 2020

When contacted by Digital Trends, Twitter “declined to comment beyond” what was reported by Wong. It also declined to specify when this new system would be rolling out or what the guidelines would be.

Up until about three years ago, users were able to request verification, but the standards by which Twitter judged who was worthy of the coveted blue check mark and who wasn’t were rather opaque and seemed haphazard.

As TechCrunch reported, after a kerfuffle ensued in 2017 in response to neo-Nazi Jason Kessler being verified, Twitter removed the “request verification” tab and said it would rethink its system.

Twitter confirmed to TechCrunch that Wong’s finding was accurate but wouldn’t comment further on how or when the new guidelines would emerge.

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Maya Shwayder
I'm a multimedia journalist currently based in New England. I previously worked for DW News/Deutsche Welle as an anchor and…
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