Despite publicly pausing verification, Twitter has verified 10,000+ accounts in recent months but withheld the privilege from anyone without backchannel access
letting people voluntarily tie their profiles to a verified identity could enable more trust and healthier conversations, two of the company's stated priorities @byardduncan : This is a very good scoop. The blue checkmark may not seem like a big deal, but in an age of aggressive disinformation, it's more important than ever to be systematic and transparent about who you stamp as “official.” This is, uh ... not systematic and transparent. http://twitter.com/... Karissa Bell / @karissabe : And yet any time a reporter has asked about how verification works since then the only answer we get is “verification is currently paused” Will Smidlein / @ws : Haven't you always needed a backchannel to get verified? I feel like they launched public verification, realized it was a horrible idea, but they can't come out and say it Erin Keane / @eekshecried : The backchannel's always been ridiculous. I had to apply twice for verification in 2016 and really throw a fit in my second app about abuse to get it, meanwhile most of my colleagues had been verified for years bc prior to my hiring someone had a friend of a friend on the inside. http://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : If you tell everyone that you are “pausing” verification, and then verify 13,000 people in the past three months, then you are a liar http://twitter.com/... Martin Bryant / @martinsfp : It's bonkers that Twitter can't publicly make a decision on what verification is for and stick to it. This backdoor approach does nothing to stop the perception it's about privilege rather than identity. http://twitter.com/... Karissa Bell / @karissabe : Twitter says verification is “paused” but in reality the only thing that's changed is there is no publicly accessible way to request verification, which means some of the people who need verification most can't get it https://mashable.com/... Karissa Bell / @karissabe : Twitter says it is still verifying “select” accounts. According to our analysis the company has verified more than 13,000 in the last 4.5 months (including Jack Dorsey's parents) http://mashable.com/... Karissa Bell / @karissabe : New fro me: Twitter verification has been “paused” for 17 months, but the company is still verifying thousands of accounts http://mashable.com/... Kerry Flynn / @kerrymflynn : Thank you, @karissabe. It's such BS that @jack made such a big deal about pausing it to reevaluate how the process, but continues to verify celebs + whoever else they internally approve http://mashable.com/...I'll continue to desperately tweet about it http://twitter.com/... Matt Navarra / @mattnavarra : Twitter's verification process is still a total mess http://mashable.com/... Thanks: @karissabe