Bluesky’s domain-based verification offers a fresh approach, but the platform struggles to address impersonation challenges as its user base grows.
More and more users are leaving X (previously Twitter) due to Elon Musk’s drastic changes. Bluesky has been a solid alternative for many of those users. But this new flock of users comes with its challenges. Engadget reports that Bluesky lacks a traditional verification system, which makes it extremely easy for impersonators to open and run accounts.
In a recent post, Bluesky announced that their team is working behind the scenes to get more high-profile people and organisations to set up their domain. Bluesky’s verification is not indicated by any blue checkmark. As companies like X and Meta started giving blue checkmarks to paid users instead, the credibility of those checkmarks has gone down. Instead, Bluesky verifies users through their domain. It involves adding a string of text to your website’s DNS record.
Impersonation can be a huge problem when an important politician makes a statement, and it needs to be clarified if they made the post or if someone else with their own agenda is trying to spark conflict. While many notable figures are yet to join Bluesky, many members of the US Senate have already signed up under the senate.gov domain.
Bluesky aims to remove impersonators and “handle-squatting” accounts. They have already quadrupled the size of their moderation team to handle all the new flocking users and clean out the fake profiles and potential scammers.
Just like X, parody, satire, and fan accounts are allowed on Bluesky. But they aren’t handing out blue checkmarks to those accounts. Instead, such accounts are required to label themselves in their bio.
Other than the post from the Bluesky safety team, there is no more information about Bluesky’s verification process. We don’t know if more measures will be adopted in the future in the form of verification badges. As the platform is still in its early stages, it’s safe to say that it will undergo a lot of changes over the next few years. While the current process is a unique take on verification, it is not ideal for many people, including rising content creators and independent journalists.
The post ended with the statement, “We also hear your feedback: users want more ways to verify their identity beyond domain verification. We’re exploring additional options to enhance account verification, and we hope to share more shortly.”