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Twitter now lets anyone request a verified account

160 points| protomyth | 9 years ago |theverge.com | reply

129 comments

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[+] dublinben|9 years ago|reply
I wonder if this means they will stop using the removal of verification as way of punishing controversial users.[0]

[0] https://twitter.com/nero

[+] sergiotapia|9 years ago|reply
For those out of the loop, 4chan started posting mocked Tweets from Leslie Jones saying all sorts of racist and homophobic things.

Someone sent them to @nero, and he retweeted a few of them. This caused a lot conservatives and gay people on Twitter to get angry at Leslie Jones.

Twitter then banned @nero for the fourth time this year.

What's funny is that Leslie has actually posted racist things before and hasn't been banned for it. http://i.imgur.com/EawuVV2.png

[+] Shank|9 years ago|reply
This account is now suspended, rather than unverified (if it was active when you posted your comment).
[+] SCdF|9 years ago|reply
You mean "punishing a controversial user", right? Not users?As in, that's the only account for which that's happened.

I ask because you make it sound like it's a tool they deploy regularly or at least occasionally, where as far as I know it's only happened once, to this one account.

[+] nzjrs|9 years ago|reply
Contributing to the echo chamber of our modern discourse
[+] dominotw|9 years ago|reply
I am assuming twitter would start suppressing non-verifed accounts in replies/searches ect.

Wouldn't this make arab spring style twitter revolutions impossible. How do you criticize your govt in countries where you could go to jail for what you say online. Just wondering if this has something to do with their notorious saudi investor.

[+] Arcten|9 years ago|reply
Based on some of the quotes from Twitter, I don't think they will be suppressing non-verified users. It seems this is more so that people who would be deserving of verification based on the criteria that previously existed don't need to wait until Twitter notices them to get it.

For example:

> an account may be verified if it is determined to be of public interest.

> We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification

[+] mark242|9 years ago|reply
Yeah; $10 says there's a preference coming "Only show notifications from verified accounts" or "Only allow verified accounts to follow" etc etc.
[+] PhasmaFelis|9 years ago|reply
> I am assuming twitter would start suppressing non-verifed accounts in replies/searches ect.

How would that benefit them?

[+] jonknee|9 years ago|reply
It would also make abuse much harder. There are no easy solutions.
[+] niftich|9 years ago|reply
This could eventually factor into Twitter's monetization strategy.

Namely, now people can self-assert to be 'important'; relevant quote here:

> "We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification"

These creators and influencers are the drivers of most of the user engagement to Twitter. By changing this process to be requestable instead of the Hollywood Principle ('don't call us, we'll call you'), they can gauge the level of interest that people will have in a premium level of service -- which, as of right now, is free, but selective.

[+] tenpies|9 years ago|reply
It also creates an incentive for people to use their real information and fill in all those additional fields that people love ignoring (date of birth, phone number). Advertisers will be quite pleased.
[+] kilroy123|9 years ago|reply
I know this is horrible, but one of my goals was to get that checkmark next to my name one day.
[+] throwanem|9 years ago|reply
Now it's easier than ever, and just as meaningful!
[+] dvhh|9 years ago|reply
right after "world domination" I hope
[+] chejazi|9 years ago|reply
Twitter desperately needs this. There are far too many garbage (spam/bot) accounts on their service. I think this will help people filter out such noise a lot easier - looking forward to it!
[+] dvhh|9 years ago|reply
I don't think it is really an issue for Twitter unless real user leave "en masse" due to spam.

It helps inflating the number of users without even twitter putting a hand in it.

[+] known|9 years ago|reply
"There are only two ways of telling the complete truth--anonymously and posthumously." --Thomas Sowell
[+] bitmapbrother|9 years ago|reply
I'm surprised Twitter didn't try to monetize this feature. I'm sure there are a lot of people that would pay to have that "verified" icon.
[+] richev|9 years ago|reply
I've have happily paid $5; anything to help Twitter monetize without having to rely solely on ad revenue...
[+] nikolay|9 years ago|reply
Clueless Twitter again - sell verification for $99.95 for the first year and $9.95/year thereafter.
[+] mxuribe|9 years ago|reply
I think this is too little, too late...or at the very least too late. I'm heading towards more and more decentralized means of posting and communicating...you know, where I can control my own fate at least a tad more. Good luck to twitter, but this is so yesterday. ;-)
[+] mmel|9 years ago|reply
Are there decentralized social media platforms? What do you mean by decentralized? Posting on individual websites with different accounts?
[+] jarofgreen|9 years ago|reply
It sounds like they are basically going for a Real Name policy? I wonder how that will go, as problems with that have been well documented on other platforms.
[+] awt|9 years ago|reply
Lesson: don't be a twitter share cropper.
[+] Asooka|9 years ago|reply
cough HackerNews cough hellbans with no warning cough.
[+] cloudjacker|9 years ago|reply
verification futures plummeting in asian session
[+] hclivess|9 years ago|reply
Leslie just banned me on Twitter lol