Twitter To Implement Verification System For Celebrities
To combat celebrity user authentication, Twitter will implement a verification system. Stung by several incidents of impostors posing as celebrities on the popular social networking site, Twitter is implementing a verification system to authenticate the identities of famous people. The “Verified Accounts” plan was outlined by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone in a blog posted Saturday. Under the initiative, Twitter will begin verifying the accounts of “public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes and other well-known individuals at risk of impersonation” and provide those accounts with a special seal, Stone said.
The blog said Twitter will be “experimenting with a beta preview” of the plan this summer but didn’t otherwise provide specific dates for the effort. “We hope to verify more accounts in the future, but due to the resources required, verification will begin only with a small set” of famous Twitterers, the blog said.
Last month St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sued Twitter in San Francisco Superior Court after an impostor created an account in his name. That account was deleted, but in his blog Stone denied reports that Twitter had settled the lawsuit and paid legal fees in the case.
“With due respect to the man and his notable work, Mr. La Russa’s lawsuit was an unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous. Twitter‘s terms of service are fair and we believe will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa’s lawsuit,” Stone wrote.
Last month Twitter was the target of an expletive-laced blog rant by rapper Kanye West after an impostor created a Twitter account in his name. Twitter suspended that account, as it has other fake celebrity accounts, including one for the Dalai Lama.
Stone said that at least initially the verification system would not be tested with businesses, although he hinted that idea could provide Twitter with an “opportunity” in the future.
We will wait and see where Twitter goes with this one.
Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained extensive notability and popularity worldwide. It is described as the “SMS of the Internet,” in that the site provides the functionality via its API
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