Twitter is taking new steps to address problems with its verification process.
The company, which had previously "frozen" its verification program after a recent complaint, said Wednesday it was working on a new verification system, saying they "didn't prioritize this project like they should have.".
“Verification has long been viewed as an endorsement by some users. We gave verified accounts visible visibility on the service, which encouraged this perception,” the company wrote in a tweet. “We should have addressed this sooner, but we didn’t prioritize the project as much as we should have.”.
Now, the service says it is working on a new verification system. Twitter previously stopped all verifications following the complaint, after the site gave the verification badge to Jason Kessler, who organized the racist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
Twitter is also, for the first time, detailing a set of “guidelines” that, if broken, can lead to accounts losing verification. From Twitter’s support page:
– Intentionally misleading users on Twitter by changing their name or bio.
– Promoting hatred and/or violence or directly attacking or threatening other people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease. Supporting organizations or individuals promoting the above.
– Inciting or engaging in harassment of others.
– Violence and dangerous behavior
– Directly or indirectly threatening or encouraging any form of physical violence against an individual or group of people, including threatening or promoting terrorism
– Violent, gruesome or disturbing images
– Self-harm, suicide
– Engaging in activity on Twitter that violates the Twitter Rules.
Previously, there was only the vague statement that “Twitter may remove the account verification badge at any time,” noting that verified accounts that significantly changed their profile settings could lose their verification badge.
Additionally, Twitter says it is in the midst of "conducting a review" of already verified accounts and will remove the verification flag from accounts that do not comply with the guidelines.
While Twitter has always had the authority to remove verification from accounts that broke its rules or engaged in inappropriate behavior, the new guidelines indicate that the company is finally ready to start enforcing these policies.
It appears that this has already started to happen. On Wednesday, Kessler and his colleague Richard Spencer lost verification of their accounts.
