While in the midst of criticism about its handling of online abuse, Twitter Inc. launched a new feature Tuesday that will allow more accounts to be verified.
Twitter TWTR, +1.07% said that it has created an application process for users seeking to become verified on the platform. Verified accounts, which have a blue checkmark designating the status, are considered accounts “of public interest” and typically include celebrities, journalists and other public figures.
“We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification,” Tina Bhatnagar, Twitter’s vice president of user services, said in a news release.
The platform has about 187,000 verified accounts, Twitter said. The first accounts to be verified included Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian and the Milwaukee Police Department.
The announcement arrived as Twitter faced backlash for its handling of online abuse, sparked by tweets sent to “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones.
Profiles that some of these people are crazy sick. It's not enough to freeze Acct. They should be reported.
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
@Lesdoggg Hi Leslie, following, please DM me when you have a moment
— Jack (@jack) July 19, 2016
Shares of Twitter were down 2% Tuesday afternoon.
This article was originally published on Marketwatch.
