3 ms·

People get verified because they're pretty well known, and people are rarely known by their legal names. Celebrities are the obvious example, you probably know

People get verified because they're pretty well known, and people are rarely known by their legal names. Celebrities are the obvious example, you probably know who Eminem or Lady Gaga are, but very few people know who Marshall Bruce Mathers III or Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta are. Others might also want to have their title in there names, for example presidents, professors, kings etc.

toss1 4y ago
True, and there should be a way for people to get verified and use their professional / public persona names as Verified Identities. They just don't get to change the name or image on the account without going through a manually verified update process. Pretty trivial, a singer goes on a new tour and wants to use a new headshot, checks out faster than reading this paragraph. A cracker hijacks the account and wants to change it to Vitalik Buterin, also pretty obvious to deny, as this is clearly a different identity inconsistent with the previous one.
- KeepFlying 4y ago
  That isn't always easy to verify though if you aren't familiar with the person, their public image, and their current events. For example if Ed Sheeran changes their profile picture to an X, how do you know he means his Multiply album and not some terrible Lil Nas X impersonation. What about if a performer changes their stage name? Can we reliably expect Twitter research this change and know that its the same person?
  - toss1 4y ago
    >>Can we reliably expect Twitter research this change and know that its the same person? Um, yes — it is their job. Most will be easy and some will be harder. I understand that some small subset of people can have different public-facing roles. Perhaps the solution is to allow two accounts for each? After all, one can have one for your person and one for your company.

3 ms·

People get verified because they're pretty well known, and people are rarely known by their legal names. Celebrities are the obvious example, you probably know

by miki123211 4y ago

toss1 4y ago
True, and there should be a way for people to get verified and use their professional / public persona names as Verified Identities. They just don't get to change the name or image on the account without going through a manually verified update process. Pretty trivial, a singer goes on a new tour and wants to use a new headshot, checks out faster than reading this paragraph. A cracker hijacks the account and wants to change it to Vitalik Buterin, also pretty obvious to deny, as this is clearly a different identity inconsistent with the previous one.
- KeepFlying 4y ago
  That isn't always easy to verify though if you aren't familiar with the person, their public image, and their current events. For example if Ed Sheeran changes their profile picture to an X, how do you know he means his Multiply album and not some terrible Lil Nas X impersonation. What about if a performer changes their stage name? Can we reliably expect Twitter research this change and know that its the same person?
  - toss1 4y ago
    >>Can we reliably expect Twitter research this change and know that its the same person? Um, yes — it is their job. Most will be easy and some will be harder. I understand that some small subset of people can have different public-facing roles. Perhaps the solution is to allow two accounts for each? After all, one can have one for your person and one for your company.