News

Twitter Verification Badge Is Now Available To The Public

Twitter has relaunched its public verification program, allowing anyone who meets its qualification criteria to get their account verified.

Published

5 years ago

May 25, 2021

Joanna Melki

twitter's verification badge is now available to the public

Twitter’s account ownership verification program (aka Twitter verification program) launched in 2009 to reduce the risk of impersonation, but getting the strongly desired blue checkmark has been impossible for most users of the platform — until now.

After publishing a draft of its new verification policy last year, Twitter is now finally relaunching its public verification program, allowing anyone who meets its qualification criteria to get their account verified.

“We’re excited to share that starting today, we’ll begin rolling out our new verification application process and reviewing public applications for verification on Twitter,” writes Twitter in the official announcement. “Today’s application rollout marks the next milestone in our plans to give more transparency, credibility, and clarity to verification on Twitter.”

Twitter

According to Twitter’s updated verification criteria, the following six categories of accounts can now quality for verification:

Government
Companies, brands, and organizations
News organizations and journalists
Entertainment
Sports and gaming
Activists, organizers, and other influential individuals

Additional account categories are planned to be introduced later this year, and they should extend the verification criteria to encompass scientists, academics, and religious leaders.

Also Read: Twitter Is Testing Two New Useful Features

In addition to belonging to the right category, Twitter also wants users to behave well before verifying them. Everyone who has misbehaved on the platform during the last 12 months and has been suspended for seven days or 12 hours for breaking the rules will be automatically rejected.

How To Apply For Twitter Verification?

To apply for the blue Twitter checkmark, you need to:

Log in to your Twitter account.
Go to the Account Settings tab.
Choose Identity verification.
Provide your official email address, website, or government ID.
Wait up to several weeks for your account to be verified.

That’s right, Twitter said that the verification process could take up to several weeks, depending on the current demand. However, it should typically take only a few days. Users who end up rejected can reapply 30 days after receiving the decision.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.