Activists looking to apply for verification on Twitter through its follower count option need just under 100,000 followers on the platform to be eligible, a spokesperson for the social media company has told Liam O’Dell.
The news comes after this website revealed that Twitter had quietly removed the option to demonstrate on-platform notability through a ‘hashtag movement’ earlier this month, meaning users either needed to have a follower count in the top 0.05% of active accounts in their region, or engagement in the top 0.05%.
This is in addition to meeting one of the criteria for off-platform notability, which includes evidence such as “a stable Wikipedia article about them” or three or more references in news outlets within the last six months.
Twitter told Liam O’Dell that the original purpose of the ‘hashtag movement’ option was for it to be considered evidence of notability, but they have since learned that it was an insufficient way to measure this, and it was hard to prove whether an account met the requirement. The option was removed as a result.
However, the move has since seen disabled campaigners report that they have been unable to apply under the category at all, with a message now appearing saying that they “aren’t eligible for verification in this category”.
“You have not met the minimum follower or mention threshold for your region that is required to be verified as an activist or influential individual,” it reads.
The rejection message has since prompted activists to question the official follower requirement for the category, with Twitter’s verification policy failing to give an exact figure for specific geographical regions.
Yet, when approached by Liam O’Dell for comment, a Twitter spokesperson told him: “For an account to be eligible based on follower count, it must be in the top .05% of active accounts located in the same geographic region. For the UK and US this represents just under 100k followers.”
Depending on how audience sizes grow, the social media platform added that the requirement could be subject to change.
Liam O'Dell 