Twitter is set to relaunch its verification feature in January

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If you’ve been on Twitter for any amount of time, you are probably familiar with the infamous blue checkmark. The little icon that tells people, “Yo, this is really me.” It’s a good feature for journalists, artists, politicians, and more, as it confirms that the information coming from them is legit.

But after Twitter received a bunch of backlash for verifying a white supremacist, the company paused the program to look at what it means to be verified and to reconsider some of its policies regarding verification.

Well, now, it seems that the company is ready to give it another shot. Announced this week, Twitter will once again open up verification to users starting in 2021. The Next Web reports that the actual date is January 20.

Users will be able to request verification directly from their account settings. As for who will be verified, Twitter says that “authentic, notable and active” users that fall into one of the following categories will be up for consideration:

• News/journalists
• Entertainment
• Sports
• Activists and organizers
• Companies/brands and nonprofit organizations
• Government officials

These categories could, and probably will, expand as time goes on.

In addition to verification, Twitter also notes that it will be adding more features to the platform. These include memorial accounts and a label for bots on the platform.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean the bots that run rampant on the platform spreading misinformation, but instead, known bots that users follow or use on the service for things like reading threads.

Overall, it’s good to see Twitter rolling out verification again. Maybe now is when I will finally get my coveted blue checkmark so I can look down on everyone else.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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