New Article: Twitter To Rely on Wikipedia for Who Gets a Blue Checkmark

Plus: An update on Infodemic and the Inkshares Book Contest.

Before we get started. Have you followed my upcoming book Infodemic? It is currently in second place in the 2020 Inkshares contest. Check it out!

My latest story for Slate—

Twitter Wants to Use Wikipedia to Help Determine Who Gets a Blue Checkmark

Back in November 2017, Twitter announced that it was pausing all account verifications, closing the public submissions process that gives certain accounts the blue checkmark next to their names. The move came after the social media company was heavily criticized for giving the verified checkmark to Jason Kessler, the organizer of that year’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. In its statement at the time, Twitter said that although verification had simply been intended to authenticate identity, it was now being interpreted as any sort of endorsement. “We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it,” Twitter said.

That was three years ago. Since then, Twitter’s verification process has officially been put on hold, although the company has in fact verified political candidates, medical experts tweeting about COVID-19, and made thousands of other quiet exceptions. Twitter has fended off complaints about the long delay in accepting public verification requests by saying that it has instead been focusing on priorities like election integrity. Now that the election is over and Fleets have arrived, however, Twitter has signaled its willingness to open up an official path to those coveted blue checkmarks. The company announced Nov. 24 that it was relaunching its verification system in 2021 using a new policy that is open to public feedback until Dec. 8.  How has Twitter improved its verification system between now and 2017? As it turns out, a big part of verification 2.0 is relying on Wikipedia.

Plus: An Update on Infodemic

My forthcoming book Infodemic is currently in second place out of 135 submissions in the 2020 Inkshares book contest based on reader engagement. The winner of the contest will be published and the book will be considered for future film & TV development. A huge thank you to everyone who has followed the book and read the five sample chapters posted on Inkshares.

If you have not already done so, could you support the book and preorder a $10 copy? Anyone who preorders Infodemic this weekend will receive a free PDF with my all-time favorite published articles.

Best regards,
Stephen

P.S. Have you finished The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix? I finished the series and am now racing through the original 1983 novel. Highly recommend!