How To Get Verified On Twitter? You Can't As Company Reviews Policy

Twitter posted some bad news on Thursday for anyone who has been looking to get one of the coveted blue check marks next to their name, the verification process is paused until further notice. Twitter made the announcement via a lengthy tweet that utilized the new 280 character limit.

This sudden halt came after the site verified one of the white nationalist organizers behind the "Unite the Right" rally that occurred in Charlottesville, Va., in August and was highly attended by neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates and alt-Right activists. The rally turned violent, left dozens injured and one dead after a car drove into a crowd. The organizer of the rally announced to his followers on Tuesday that he had been verified.

This verification was met by backlash from other Twitter users who criticized the site for verifying Kessler.

Two days later, Twitter announced it will review its process for verifying users and in the meantime, nobody new would be verified. However, the site left Kessler’s verification status as-is.

Anyone can apply to have a verified Twitter account to let their followers know that "an account of public interest is authentic," according to the verification portal. Those requesting verification have to provide a phone number, a confirmed email, a short biography, a profile photo and more to earn their verified status on the site.

Twitter announced on Thursday that the verification process was under review and all verifications would be halted until confusion around what the check mark actually means was cleared up. Twitter says that the check is solely meant to "authenticate identity & voice" but that rather it has been interpreted as "an endorsement or an indicator of importance."

Many users felt that this statement from Twitter doesn’t exactly ring true. The verification has long been used as a way to give credibility to a user or to endorse them. Some users even pointed out that people have lost verification status after poor behavior or that the site refused to verify some users.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also tweeted regarding the verification process, he clarified that agents have "been following our verification policy correctly, but we realized some time ago the system is broken and needs to be reconsidered. And we failed by not doing anything about it. Working now to fix faster."

Additionally, Ed Ho, general manager of Twitter’s Consumer Product tweeted that the company has known that the verification process was "busted." He even said that Twitter, "should have stopped the current process at the beginning of the year." He then asked whether Twitter should even appear to endorse anyone on the site, or whether it should merely authenticate profile information. No doubt a question many people at Twitter are discussing while trying to better the authentication process.