Yep, same with "journalists". Publication companies were given a fast-track process that basically allowed them to hand out verifications to anyone who ever had

Yep, same with "journalists". Publication companies were given a fast-track process that basically allowed them to hand out verifications to anyone who ever had a byline with them. The most reliable way to get verified was to sell some words to an online news website. It didn't matter how notable you or the publication were. When GP says "that’s not true though" I can't even tell which part he is talking about. This is fairly recent and well-documented stuff.