Twitter Pauses New Verifications After Getting Flooded With Requests

It’s a small graphic, but it’s a big deal to many people.
Twitter’s “verified” symbol — the little blue checkmark — tells the
world you are who you say you are.

After reopening its verification program last week, Twitter is
apparently overrun with applications for the coveted icon. On
Friday, the social media company said it’s hitting pause on
accepting new requests while it works through its backlog of
unprocessed requests.

“We’ll reopen requests soon! (we pinky swear!),” a tweet from
Twitter’s @verified account assured users.

The pause comes just days after Twitter restarted its
verification program, which it shut down in 2017 amid controversy
surrounding what, exactly, the symbol represented. Some saw the
mark as tacit approval by the company of those they bestowed it on,
including some users later identified as white supremacists.

Twitter says it spent that downtime reevaluating its application
process. One change: Twitter will now only hand out the symbol to
accounts that are “notable, authentic and active” on the platform.
Previously users had only to verify that they were the person their
profile purported them to be.

It’s unclear when Twitter plans to reopen verification requests.
The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for more
information.

It’s a small graphic, but it’s a big deal to many people.
Twitter’s “verified” symbol — the little blue checkmark — tells the
world you are who you say you are.

After reopening its verification program last week, Twitter is
apparently overrun with applications for the coveted icon. On
Friday, the social media company said it’s hitting pause on
accepting new requests while it works through its backlog of
unprocessed requests.

“We’ll reopen requests soon! (we pinky swear!),” a tweet from
Twitter’s @verified account assured users.

The pause comes just days after Twitter restarted its
verification program, which it shut down in 2017 amid controversy
surrounding what, exactly, the symbol represented. Some saw the
mark as tacit approval by the company of those they bestowed it on,
including some users later identified as white supremacists.

Twitter says it spent that downtime reevaluating its application
process. One change: Twitter will now only hand out the symbol to
accounts that are “notable, authentic and active” on the platform.
Previously users had only to verify that they were the person their
profile purported them to be.

It’s unclear when Twitter plans to reopen verification requests.
The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for more
information.