Twitter may soon allow users to get their accounts ID-verified for a new badge on their profile. It will help others identify if an account is genuine and trustable. The new account verification system is currently in development with no official information about its planned rollout.
Spotted by app researcher and developer Jane Manchun Wong, who has a good track record of finding such in-development features, the new badge will appear when you tap on the blue tick next to a Twitter handle. “This account is ID verified,” Twitter notes. While the company hasn’t officially announced this feature, Jane says “there’ll be a flow for uploading your legal ID and your selfie for the purpose of confirming your identity”. We should hear more about it soon as the social network progresses with its development.
Twitter is readying another account verification tool
Twitter’s account verification system has changed significantly after Elon Musk’s takeover of the company a few months back. Earlier, the social network required users to meet several criteria before they could get a “verified” checkmark, aka blue tick, next to their handles. But that’s no longer the case. The coveted badge is now available to anyone as part of the Twitter Blue subscription. You can pay Twitter $8-$11 every month and have the blue tick on your profile.
The company does review your account before giving you the badge. But it essentially only checks if you’re trying to impersonate prominent personalities or brands, and not much else. As such, the blue tick is no longer a sign of authenticity or genuineness on the platform. Twitter has introduced other badges and labels to note prominent verified accounts, including celebrities, politicians, and brands. But the blue tick is still there, making it all very confusing for users.
“This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue,” the company tells you when you tap on the blue tick of a Blue-subscribed account. The new “ID-verified” badge will appear in the same place. It appears Twitter will allow Blue subscribers to provide a legal ID to the company to earn this badge. It will let their followers know that they are interacting with a genuine person. As said before, the blue tick doesn’t imply genuineness on Twitter anymore.
Twitter seems to have recently begun work on the new ID verification system. We will let you know when we have more information about this feature or when the company starts rolling it out publicly. Meanwhile, you can learn more about Twitter Blue here.