What’s the one thing worse than trying to get verified on Twitter? Losing your verified status after you’ve already gone through the tedious process of getting verified.
It sounds like the beginning of a customer service nightmare, but it’s a reality for some users right now.
Inactive Accounts Are Losing Their Verified Status
In a Tweet from its official support account, Twitter announced that as of January 22, 2021, some accounts will be losing their verification badges.
Last call! As part of our new verification policy, we’ll remove verification badges from inactive and incomplete accounts starting tomorrow, January 22.
We've reached out directly to those who need to take action to stay verified. For more info: https://t.co/pDI1YmZOM7 pic.twitter.com/J3Aj9H3X7x
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) January 21, 2021
If you’re the owner of a verified account, you better make sure that you’re an active Twitter user and that you meet all of the other requirements listed on the Twitter Help Center. Otherwise, you’ll likely have to say goodbye to your coveted blue checkmark.
This move hasn’t come out of nowhere. In a Tweet from November 2020, Twitter asked its users for feedback on the verification process, after months of not accepting any new applications.
One month later, Twitter announced an update to its verification policy, which will be returning soon for people obsessed with claiming their blue tick.
It’s Currently Much Harder to Get Verified on Twitter
A few years ago, all Twitter verification really meant was that you had a substantial online following and that you weren’t someone trying to impersonate someone with that following.
However, Twitter then changed the rules in an effort to ensure verification badges meant more than that.
While it’s likely to change soon, at the time of writing, there are six categories that Twitter has defined with criteria for verification:
- Government
- Companies, brands, and organizations
- News organizations and journalists
- Entertainment
- Sports and gaming
- Activists, organizers, and other influential individuals
In all categories, Twitter may independently confirm qualifying affiliation through business partnerships or direct outreach. We [Twitter] reserves the right to deny or revoke verification to any accounts that met any of the following criteria through artificial or inauthentic activity.
Already, users are starting to notice that some prominent figures are losing their verification badges.
Some examples of accounts that were once verified but now are not include Zimbabwean politician Nelson Chamisa, NFL player Stephon Gilmore, and B.I. and Bobby of popular K-pop boy band iKON.
Furthermore, other users are claiming they never received the emails from Twitter warning them about the new changes and how their accounts would be affected by them.
Really @Twitter ? Female founder of two tech companies but you no longer think I should be #Verified ? And bt the way, never got an email 👌 pic.twitter.com/yAKEg62JZb
— Stephanie Horbaczewski (@iamsteph) January 24, 2021
Has Twitter Made a Change for the Better?
Having a more complicated verification process is a double-edged sword. Having stricter measures for getting verified will make it much more difficult for fake accounts to get accidentally verified, but of course, the same can be said for real accounts.
