9/14/2021- 12:02 p.m.
Twitter has again started accepting applications for accounts to be designated as verified — the ones that receive the official blue checkmark — weeks after halting the process.
The platform made the announcement on Monday.
Twitter said it stopped accounts from requesting verification to improve the “application flow and review process.”
Verified accounts on Twitter typically belong to public figures like government officials, celebrities and social media influencers with many followers.
“To receive the blue badge, your account must be authentic, notable, and active,” Twitter said.
The pause also came after Twitter verified a “small number” of inauthentic accounts.
The social platform re-launched its verification program in May after it had been closed for three years.
The 2017 pause followed criticism of its decision to verify Jason Kessler, an organizer of the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., that resulted in the death of a counter-protester. Twitter had also pulled verification for white nationalist Richard Spencer.
