Twitter's blue tick 'Verified Account' badge is a recognition that many people strive for.

But it appears that not even Twitter knows what Verification on the site means.

Internal emails between several big names at Twitter, including general counsel, Vijaya Gadde, have been leaked online, and show that they all have conflicting ideas of what verification means.

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Twitter's blue tick 'Verified Account' badge is a recognition that many people strive for. But it appears that not even Twitter knows what Verification on the site means

HOW TO APPLY TO GET VERIFIED In order to complete the form, users must have specific information already listed: A verified phone number, a confirmed email address, bio, profile photo, header photo, birthday (for accounts that are not company, brand, or organization accounts), website and Tweets set as public in Tweet privacy settings. Once you've made it past step one, Twitter will ask you a few questions about why your account should be verified and may even ask for a scanned copy of a government issued identification card. If the account represents a person, Twitter wants to understand their impact in their field. If it represents a corporation or company, they want to know about their mission. Twitter will respond to request via email and if it is denied the firm will let users submit another form for the same account 30 days after following the rejection notice. Advertisement

The internal emails were obtained and leaked by BuzzFeed News this week.

In the emails, several senior executives discuss Milo Yiannopoulos – a notorious troll who was punished for his ongoing abuse by having his verified badge removed in January 2016.

Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's general counsel, wrote: 'I thought that he wasn't qualified for verification under current guidelines - is that not true?

'I want to make sure we are doing the right thing here and not responding to external pressure or attacks from him.

'We've already taken the PR hit, so let's make sure we are focused on getting this right!'

Tina Bhatnagar, Vice President of User Services replied: 'If he is as bad as we think on abuse, why don't we just perma-suspend?'

But Adam Sharp, former Head of News, Government and Elections hit back at this, saying: 'To my understanding, none of the violations taken individually warrant permanent suspension and while we have escalations for repeat offenses of some types, we don't have a blanket 'three strikes you're out'-type policy.

In the emails, several senior executives discuss Milo Yiannopoulos (pictured) – a notorious troll who was punished for his ongoing abuse by having his verified badge removed in January 2016

WHO CAN GET VERIFIED According to Twitter's Help page: 'An account may be verified if it is determined to be an account of public interest. 'Typically this includes accounts maintained by users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas. 'A verified badge does not imply an endorsement by Twitter.' Advertisement

Ms Gadde even went so far as to suggest that she didn't understand the verification policy at all.

She wrote: 'I'd like to understand the verification policy and whether or not he is eligible or what would make him eligible. That should be an objective criteria in my view.'

In a separate email thread with Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, Mr Sharp wrote: 'One challenge is how verification has morphed into something so much more than a well-intentioned identity check.

'It has become a cultural status symbol. It influences search ranking. It exempts a user from some spam filters. It gives them priority support treatment.'

Last month, Twitter verified Jason Kessler, the organiser of the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville where three people died. After receiving a huge backlash for this decision, Twitter removed his verification, and tweeted: 'We should have addressed this earlier but did not prioritize the work as we should have'

According to BuzzFeed, other emails suggested that Mr Yiannopoulos wasn't immediately banned because he didn't issue violent threats, as per the policy.

Despite this, Twitter decided to permanently ban him in late 2016.

This isn't the first time that Twitter's verification system has come into question.

Twitter has previously tweeted to apologise about verification confusion, saying: 'We recognise that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it'

Last month, Twitter verified Jason Kessler, the organiser of the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville where three people died.

After receiving a huge backlash for this decision, Twitter removed his verification, and tweeted: 'We should have addressed this earlier but did not prioritize the work as we should have.'

MailOnline has contacted Twitter for comment.