Verification is a tricky subject for Twitter, more so since Elon Musk bought the social media company and promptly changed the verification tick process, numerous times. Now that the chaos of the new, revamped Twitter Blue has cooled down somewhat, the micro-blogging site seems to be testing a new process of verification on its platform.
This has not been confirmed by the company – and don’t try to contact the press team unless you want to see a poop emoji – but according to Watchful.ai, the micro-blogging site is testing a verification process that is based on government IDs. According to a report by TechCrunch, the new verification process involves the submission of a picture of the user’s government ID (both front and back). This, coupled with a selfie, will verify their Twitter accounts.
Like the Edit Tweet and other features, this new verification process is locked behind a paywall, and available only to subscribers of Twitter Blue. In case you missed it, Twitter’s subscription service is available for $8/month on the web and $11/month for the Twitter app on iOS and Android.
It is not clear whether this new ID-based verification is being tested externally, but Watchful.ai did find out that it is in testing in the US on Twitter for Android. The new verification process, according to the screenshots provided to TechCrunch, will take about three minutes to complete. Their information and images will be shared with a third party – it is not mentioned which one – to confirm their identity.
If Twitter does not scrap the plan and rolls out this feature, then it will be a worthy addition to the social media platform. Not only will it add credibility to the accounts on the platform, but it will also crack down hard on impersonations and fake accounts – something that had mushroomed during the early days of the launch of the “new” Twitter Blue.
It will also be a far-more trustworthy method of verification, especially at a time when users can simply pay a few dollars per month (or year) to get or keep the colored “verified” checkmark. The checkmarks, in a pure stroke of Musk genius, come in a variety of colors – blue, grey, and gold – and if that is not enough, Twitter has added an “Official” badge as well.
