Eligibility Policy

About the criteria

Our criteria differ from other “notability” criteria. We focus not on the amount of news coverage, followers, or other traditional methods of assessing noteworthiness, and instead assess the risk of impersonation.

You must meet at least one of the below criteria

• Have an English Wikipedia article — the article has to be undisputed, clearly about your entity, and at least 10 days old. Do not make an article with a hope of getting on Verified Handles.
• An existing or potential high risk of impersonation — we define this as your online presence having a significant risk of being impersonated across multiple social platforms.
• Have 100 or more points accumulated from the options below — your point score is used to assess your eligibility if you don’t meet either of the above criteria.

Point options

• Verified accounts (50 points each) — each verified account representing the entity is worth 50 points. Only TikTok and Snapchat verified accounts count towards this; verified accounts on Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, etc. do not count.
• Associated entry (100 points) — if an entry meeting the eligibility criteria itself exists and is related to the entity you are applying with, it counts for 100 points. Examples: founder, sub-entity, parent entity, key people, CEO. Assessed case by case.
• Press coverage (up to 50 points) — we prefer not to use press coverage as a means of assessing eligibility, but recognise that significant coverage correlates with impersonation risk. Reviewed case by case; promotional or paid coverage is not considered, even if unmarked.
• Registered entity (20 points each) — each authoritative place your entity is listed counts for 20 points, e.g. a registered charity or company number.

Example: Verified TikTok (50) + major news story (30) + registered charity (20) = 100 points = eligible.

These do not count towards eligibility

• ISNI, VIAF and similar — these databases can be user-generated and aren’t indicative of impersonation risk.
• Wikidata items — Wikidata has a low notability policy, and items are commonly created then deleted for not meeting it.
• Google Knowledge Panels — the panels themselves don’t represent impersonation risk, though their source content might (see the Wikipedia criterion above).

Questions or a removed entry?

This policy is intentionally left vague on the impersonation-risk option — we assess risk case by case, and appeals are welcome. Entries are sometimes removed to conform to this policy, and a removed entry no longer appears anywhere on the site. If you want a past entry reassessed, tell us its name — and its old VHID, if you have it — via Contact us.