Bluesky has launched a new verification system to prove that you are you.
It's not widely available yet, but when it rolls out more widely it won't be chargeable.
The social network that many Twitter users moved to after Elon Musk's takeover has taken another big step towards becoming a full Twitter replacement.
Bluesky has introduced a new verification system that looks very much like Twitter's blue ticks, but unlike the ones on X, it'll come for free.
This isn't the first time Bluesky has offered verification: you can already use domain verification. For example, my profile is tied to my website to prove I'm me, but the new system is more visible. And, as The Verge reports, it could prove more popular.
How do you get verified on Bluesky?
At the moment, very few people can become verified, because the system is only being rolled out to select organisations.
Those organisations will do the verification on Bluesky's behalf, with the likes of the New York Times giving its own journalists a blue tick.
There will now be two kinds of blue tick. Users like you and I will get a white tick in a blue circle, which means we're verified users. And the organisations that verify people will get a white tick in a blue scalloped circle to show that they are trusted verifiers.
In the longer term, this system will roll out to other "trusted verifiers" that'll be able to vouch for people's identities.
As you'd expect from social media, reactions have been mixed: many people are rightly wary of blue ticks after they became worthless on X. Users there buy their blue ticks and have their replies prioritised, a system that has resulted in extremist views being forced onto other users' feeds whether they approve or not.
Bluesky says it won't do that, and that verified users will be treated exactly the same as everybody else. As with the original Twitter method, it's simply a visual indicator that you're not dealing with an impostor.
