Burning questions (and some answers) about Bluesky’s new verification system

The beginning of the Bluesky verification system has raised many questions between its user base to whom will be selected-and why-what can be included in outside organizations and will the self-verification process end? There are some answers to the Tech Crunch.

After a leak last week, Bluesky officially Announced The arrival of its verification system on Monday, which is designed to ensure that notable people say they are on the social network. Although in some cases, like the system that Twitter used once before confirming the payment under Elon Musk, Bluesky’s confirmation is giving consumers the option of freely verifying the company’s dedicated morals.

Bluesky briefly told how the process worked In a blog post. However, many questions found in Bluesky’s posts and other forums, such as redditIdentify that many do not fully understand the verification.

We have raised some more common questions that apparently look at the minds of users to help explain the verification process and its rollout.

Although Bluesky did not respond to requests for the Tech Crunch comment, we are referring to the company’s own documents and posts of its leaders to try to answer the questions that many people are asking for.

Which organizations have been given the ability to confirm itself besides Bluesky?

A lost piece of information Bluesky’s Blog Post What was the tools tools are being given to other organizations outside Bluesky. The company explains that “reliable certificates” will be organizations that allow Bluesky to release blue checks. However, the only example shown was the New York Times, which is now allowed to release a check. His own journalist.

What Bluesky did not say is the one that other organizations now have this power, or how they have been chosen.

It is also unclear if Bluesky has lined up to access others soon. The company did not disclose any future partners on this effort. This makes the announcement of Bluesky’s confirmation is somewhat premature, as people want to look at the works of the gate gate -in -dear verification system, even if it was initially with only a few testers.

We’ve got ahead of it New York TimesThere are only two other organizations that are currently given a reliable certificate. They include Wired And AthleticFor, for, for,. According to To the Bluesky software engineer Samuel Newman.

Bluesky himself said it was just starting with a “small and controversial group of accounts”.

CEO Added The opening set includes “News Organs” who have agreed to confirm their journalists. Later, the company will launch a form that will allow other organizations to apply for reliable certification status, but Bluesky has not indicated when it will happen.

Does Bluesky want the verification as an indicator that someone is “reliable”?

One of the issues verification badge in the old Twitter verification system became a prestigious success. If a user was quite noteworthy, he received a certain number of followers, or was expert in their field, felt that they should be confirmed. But they may not have received the verification seed because Twitter did not agree with them about their importance. Other times, they just didn’t know the right people on Twitter.

How Bluesky feels about the matter is still a bit ambiguous. The company’s blog Post It suggests that its own verification will work for “actively verifying authentic and remarkable accounts”, but does not specify an account to understand an account “remarkable” to understand its standards.

When it was advised by Bluesky CTO Paul Frezie that people are interested in about it WHOFor, for, for,. When, And Why? Who was choosing to confirm Bluesky around him, She just answered By saying “yes”. How mysterious!

We will mark it “TBD”.

Why is it? [X] Certified but not [Y]?

As with the beginning of any verification, people hurry to focus on Hughes and handcuffs. Who was first confirmed and why? And why was that person or organization confirmed?

When Bluesky announced that the verification had begun, many people assumed that they would immediately see the blue checks everywhere. Instead, people were struggling to understand how news organizations like CnnFor, for, for,. Wsj, And Bloomberg Blue and white verification seeds found but other likes Polyteco Or MSNBC No (as time of writing!).

This is likely because Bluesky has not completed its role -out.

The company suggested in a post on the network that the start of the verification was not an immediate process when it Announced That consumers will start “watching” blue checks in Blueviski after launch.

Also, Bluesky noted that it wasn’t Accepting any verification requests “currently,” Which may mean, in later history, it will be the process of doing so.

In other words, who is confirmed today or what it means will not read much, because we are only at the beginning of this rollout.

What does this mean for self -verification?

Prior to the start of the verification, Bluesky offered users another way to confirm that they are what they say they are: with domains. In 2023, the company began to allow organizations and individuals to set up a domain as their username, and since then, more than 270,000 accounts did so, Bluesky Says.

Bluesky note, this system is not going away, as it “will continue to be an important part of the verification on Bluesky.”

Instead, it will now become another layer of validation. This will be an optional way to confirm an identity, however, not the mandate to confirm.

Still, Bluesky Says It “highly recommends” to government organizations and high -level individuals How does the document provide To start.

Received too: The company said in December 2024 That after someone changed the Bluesky username on a website URL, their old BSKY. The social username will still be safe for them. It prevents the imitation of the account by bad actors. That is why the booking will never end.

What does this mean for these accounts that were unofficially verifying users before the official start of confirmation?

As an instance, Hunter walker And Guan Yang Are running a Label To unofficially confirm the large and small, national and local media outlets. The label also confirmed elected officials, prominent activists, political activists and other celebrities according to their website.

Walker noted in a post on Bluesky that the company did not contact him about the official verification system.

“No one in Bluesky has talked to me about confirmation. I am sure that they have done a lot of league work if they want.” Is written.

So far, these “non -governmental” labels and badges are Did not disappear From consumer accounts, but the future of the label is uncertain.

“If we need it, we will continue to walk, but, clearly, I hope it will eventually move towards a single, clear source of credible verification.” Hunter Said Blueski on

Reaper and musician Flare to taste It also helped Confirm Which Bluesky accounts were authentic in the early days of the social network. The guidance may not be required after the verification system is completely abolished. (Unless he himself becomes a trusted certificate, we assume!)

What if a trusted certified began to misuse his privileges?

The theory, these people gave the status of a reliable certificate… should be reliable. But what happens if someone becomes bullying and starts working immoral, such as paying verification?

There is no detailed process about how it will be handled, nor is there an official set of principles that trusted certificates still have to agree – as far as we can tell.

But it seems that Bluesky has considered this possibility.

When asked in a Bluesky post, what would happen in the case that a trusted certified confirmed somehow misused his privilege, CTO Paul Freezee Replied that “Bluesky Can intervene if needed. “

Why is the symbol blue and white checks, such as a twitter like a blue butterfly or a strange thing?

Finally, some people wondered whether to adopt a similar shape and failure on Twitter checks. Bluesky is different, so shouldn’t it use some more design language?

Cha even Answered the questions About that, saying that In different times The company tried other colors like Green, but it found that the current color of Bluesky better than Blue was similar to the palette.

The team has not officially explained why, for example, the blue butterfly went with the traditional checkmark instead of the butterfly, As many people have suggested. Possibly, though, it is just a check that is a recognizable symbol with a meaningful meaning.