Bluesky, the decentralized social network, is working on a new verification system, and users are not happy.
Bluesky recently added longer video uploads and introduced custom feeds for vertical videos. Now, the platform is getting another update that could bring a familiar, yet different, blue check verification system to the platform. This potential feature was spotted thanks to a GitHub pull request by estrattonbailey, first spotted Friday by reverse engineer alice.mosphere.at.
According to changes in the app’s public GitHub repository, Bluesky’s blue checks might look a bit like the ones X has, but how you get one and what it means seems pretty different. Instead of just one central authority or paying a fee, Bluesky’s version looks like it will involve “Trusted Verifiers”, for example, news organizations or maybe other established groups, alongside Bluesky itself. If you tap on someone’s blue check, it’ll show you exactly who vouched for them.
Verified users will get a standard blue circle with a white check mark. But the folks who are Trusted Verifiers get a badge that looks different. These are the groups that can give out checks, and we’ve seen hints that this could include news outlets like The New York Times. Their badge is a distinct, scalloped blue circle with a white check.
This approach stands in pretty stark contrast to the verification saga we’ve seen over on X. Twitter originally used the blue check to denote notable, authentic accounts, but after Elon Musk took over, one of the big, controversial changes that got a lot of people looking for alternatives like Bluesky and Threads was the switch to a paid verification system.
