Twitter wants all users to become verified

MANILA, Philippines – In a recent Periscope livestream, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey said that the social media platform is rethinking its verification process and allowing anyone to have blue verification checkmarks as reported by The Verge.

The blue checkmarks were originally intended to verify the Twitter profiles of public figures such as celebrities, politicians, and eventually journalists. This led to the perception that the checkmark is a symbol of status, credibility, and Twitter’s support of that account’s views. Twitter product director, David Gasca who later joined the stream, thinks this is a problem. (READ: Falsehoods 70% more likely to be retweeted than the truth – study)

“Users think of it as credibility, [that] Twitter stands behind this person and what they’re saying is great and authentic, which is not what we meant,” Gasca said.

Twitter uses the checkmark to mean identity and wants users to do the same by verifying everyone.

“The intention is to open verification to everyone,” Dorsey said. “And to do it in a way that’s scalable, where [Twitter] is not in the way and people can verify more facts about themselves and we don’t have to be the judge or imply any bias on our part.” (READ: Twitter hiring director of new social science division to improve platform) 

Although, Dorsey did not reveal any information of how this new verification system will work and look like; this is clearly part of Twitter’s solution to growing concerns in their platform including the spread of misinformation, prevalence of bots, and other harmful content. Just last year, it received criticism for verifying the Twitter profile of white-supremacist, Jason Kessler who organized a rally in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of a counter-protester. 

Dorsey who was joined by other executives in the stream promised Twitter users that the platform remains a safe place to speak their minds by not forcing them to give out identifiable information that could possibly put them in danger. It is also working to better highlight parody accounts that Tweet information, often confused for fact.

“We have a lot of work ahead, it’s not going to be overnight. We’re going to be as open as we can,” Dorsey admitted. – Rappler.com