The Social Media Platform Verified Fake Accounts During Its Program Rollout
Twitter has announced it will be pausing the development of its verification program, having discovered that fake accounts were wrongly verified.
We’ve temporarily hit pause on rolling out access to apply for Verification so we can make improvements to the application and review process.
For those who have been waiting, we know this may be disappointing. We want to get things right, and appreciate your patience.
— Verified (@verified) August 13, 2021
To clarify, new applications will not be reviewed, however those that applied prior to be a part of the exclusive blue tick community prior to the pause still have a chance to be granted one.
This is not the first time that Twitter has faced issues surrounding its blue tick verification rollout. In 2017, for example, it was paused after the company received backlash for verifying an organiser behind the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville.
Earlier this year, Twitter rolled out a new and improved verification process and then paused it a week later, overwhelmed by the high demand of requests.
We’re rolling in verification requests. So we gotta hit pause on accepting any more for now while we review the ones that have been submitted.
We’ll reopen requests soon! (we pinky swear)
— Verified (@verified) May 28, 2021
Don’t fret, as applications for the highly acclaimed blue tick – the Twitter symbol of “authentic, notable and active” accounts – will resume as normal “in the next few weeks”, just with a heightened ability to detect inauthenticity.
Finally, for our previous #SocialShort, click here.
