Twitter verifications return again for users who really want a blue badge

Around one month after its most recent pause, Twitter has once again opened back up its public verifications tool, allowing anyone with a Twitter account to apply for their own small blue badge. Not all users will see the option to apply for verification initially, though Twitter notes anyone who doesn't yet see the option should keep checking.

Twitter verifications are used to confirm that the person behind an account is who they say they are. Once verified, the user's account is given a small blue badge that lets others know their identity was confirmed, helping avoid issues like scammers pretending to be popular celebrities and political figures.

We're back to rolling out access to request a blue badge.

If you're planning to apply and don't yet have access, keep checking your account settings. Thanks for sticking with us.

— Verified (@verified) September 13, 2021

The verification process has had a rocky history; following criticism over a white supremacist that was verified, Twitter shut down its public verification process for years, instead electing to verify accounts behind the scenes based on its own criteria. Late last year, things changed with the promise that public verifications would return.

That promise was kept with the launch of public verifications in early summer, though it was only weeks before Twitter paused them again. The most recent pause happened in mid-August shortly after Twitter mistakenly verified a fake account attributed to the author Cormac McCarthy.

In its latest update on the matter, the Twitter Verified account revealed the company is 'rolling out access to request a blue badge.' The application system can be found within your Twitter account's settings menu. The company says that if you don't have access to the tool yet, keep checking your account settings for when it arrives.