After a three-year hiatus, Twitter relaunched its user certification service on Thursday.

Those who do not yet have the famous blue badge will be able to apply to the social network, which today has some 360,000 verified profiles.

To be eligible, you must fall into one of the following six categories: government, business, press, entertainment, sports (and video games) and activists.

Other categories should be added for scientists and religious leaders.

The platform mobilized teams to deal with the potential avalanche of requests in the days and weeks to come.

We are relaunching certification.



Details on how to submit your applications and eligibility criteria here 👇https: //t.co/PHP2dDpMLD https://t.co/rhB4h4t5cZ

- Twitter France (@TwitterFrance) May 20, 2021

New selection criteria

The badge "allows people on Twitter to know better who they are chatting with, and to determine if they are trustworthy," Twitter said in a statement.

The social network wants to be more transparent on a selection process considered too opaque and arbitrary.

In 2020, Twitter asked users for their opinions on the subject and received 33,000 contributions.

The three new selection criteria put forward are notoriety, authenticity (people are who they say they are), and respect for the rules and values ​​of the platform.

The certification may be withdrawn if the accounts fail to fulfill their duties.

Fundamental changes

Twitter has many projects underway to (re) gain the trust of users.

Like Facebook and other social networks, it is widely criticized for its role in the spread of fake news and for its business model, which is based on advertising and therefore the collection of users' personal data.

The company is therefore preparing the launch of paid subscriptions to preponderant accounts, with advantages and privileges for subscribers.

It is also busy renovating the profiles, in particular to include the pronouns (he, she, iel, etc.) by which users want to be designated.

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