Burning questions (and some answers) for the new Bluesky check system

Starting Bluski on a Verification system has raised a number of questions among his consumer base, from whom it will be chosen from why what can be included external organizations and whether the process of self-determination will be completed. TechCrunch has some answers.

After a Expiration last weekBluski officially declared On Monday, the arrival of his verification system, which is intended to ensure that remarkable people are those who say they are on the social network. Although similar in some respects to the system that Twitter has ever used before it spins Paid check Under Elon Musk, Bluski’s check upgrades the decentralized ethos of the company, giving other organizations the authorities to check users independently.

Bluski briefly explained how this process works In a blog postS However, the numerous questions found in the answers to the publications of Bluezki and other forums, such as RedditIndicate that many do not fully understand the check.

We have rounded some of the more common issues that seem to be in the minds of users to try to help explain the verification process and introduce it.

While Bluski did not answer TechCrunch’s requests for comment, we refer to the company’s own documentation and the publications of his leaders to try to answer the questions we found a lot.

Which organizations have gained the ability to check in addition to Bluski himself?

A missing information from the bluesky blog post was which organizations outside Bluski received the instruments to check others. The company explains that “reliable checks” will be those organizations that Bluesky allows to issue blue checks. The only example of what was shown was the New York Times that is now allowed to issue checks on his journalistsS

What Bluski has not said is which other organizations now have this power or how they are selected.

It is also unclear whether Bluski has others, arranged for early access; The company did not reveal any future partners on these efforts. This makes Bluski’s check on the check on feeling somehow premature, as people want to see the work examples of decentralized check systems from the beginning, even if it is initially only a few testers.

We found this beyond The New York TimesThere are only a few other organizations that are currently given a reliable status of verification. They include Cable and Athletic., According to to Bluesky Software Engineer Samuel NewmanS

Bluski himself said he only started with a “small and inexhaustible group of accounts”.

Executive Director Jay Graber added The fact that the original set includes “news bodies” who agreed to check their journalists. Later, the company will release a form that will allow other organizations to apply for a reliable verification status, but Bluesky has not indicated when this will happen.

Does Bluski’s check be perceived as an indicator that one is also “reliable”?

One of the problems with the old Twitter checking system is the inspection badge has become a coveted achievement. If the user was remarkable enough, acquired a certain number of followers or is an expert in their field, they began to believe that they needed to be checked. But they may not have received a check badge because Twitter disagreed with them about their meaning. Another time, they just didn’t know the right people on Twitter to ask.

How Bluski feels about this is still somewhat unclear. The company’s blog post suggests that his own check will work to “proactively check authentic and remarkable accounts”, but does not explain the criteria he uses to consider a “remarkable” account to be worthy of verification.

When it was offered to Bluesky Cto Paul Frazee that people are curious about The WHO., When,, and Why Around the Bluski inspection, He only answered When I say “Yes, yes.” How mysterious!

We will note this “TBD”.

Why (x) is checked but not (Y)?

As with every time you start a check, people quickly focus on haves and have-nets. Who first checked and why? And why did this person or organization checked for that?

When Bluski announced that she had started an inspection, many suggested that they would immediately see blue checks everywhere. Instead, people struggled to understand how they liked news organizations Cnn., Wsj, and Bloomberg got the blue-and-white checkplate but others like Politico or Msnbc No (at the time of writing!).

This is probably because Bluesky has not completed his overturning check.

The company suggested in a network publication that launching a check is not an immediate process when it declared The fact that users will “begin to see” blue checks appear in Bluesky after the start.

Plus this, Bluski noted that it is not accepting any request for verification “at the moment” Which could mean that there will be a process on a later date.

In other words, we would not read too much about who has been checked today or what it means, since we are only at the beginning of this presentation.

What does this mean for self -government?

Before the check, Bluesky suggested another way to check that they were what they say they were: domains. In 2023, the company began to allow organizations and individuals to identify a domain as their username, and since then over 270,000 bills have done it, Blouski He saysS

This system does not go away, Bluesky notes as “it will continue to be an important part of Bluesky’s check.”

Instead, it will now become another layer of inspection. This will remain an optional way of confirming identity, but it is not a mandate for conducting.

Still, Bluezki says “strongly recommends” official organizations and people with a high profile do this and Provides documentation for instruction To get started.

Also worth noting: The company said in December 2024. that after someone has changed the Bluesky User name to the URL website, their old bsky.Social username will still be reserved for them. This prevents the account from presenting bad actors. For this reason, the reservation will never expire.

What does this mean to those accounts that unofficially check users before formal check -up?

As an example, Hunter Walker and Guang have ruled a Label To check a number of diverse media, large and small, national and local. This label also checked selected employees, prominent activists, political operating persons and other celebrities, according to his website.

Walker noted in a publication about Bluesky that the company did not turn to it about the official inspection system.

“Nobody in Bluezki has never talked to me about checking. I must have done a lot of legs if they want!” He wroteS

So far, these “unofficial” labels and badges have did not disappear From users’ accounts, but the future of the label remains uncertain.

“We will continue, if necessary, but, honestly, I hope this will eventually move to a clear source of reliable check,” Hunter said Bluski.

Rapper and musician Flavor had also helped with Confirm Which Bluesky accounts were authentic on the earlier days of the social network. Its guidelines also cannot be required after the verification system is completely unfolded. (Unless he becomes a reliable check alone, I guess!)

What happens if a reliable check begins to abuse his privilege?

In theory, those who have provided a reliable status of verification must be … reliable. But what happens if a person goes a fraudster and starts working unethically, such as accepting payments to check?

There is no detailed process on how this will be processed, nor has there an official set of rules that reliable checks must agree so far – as far as we can say.

But it seems that Bluezki has looked at the opportunity.

Asked in Bluski post what will happen in the case that a reliable verification abuses his privilege in some way, the Paul Fraise Director replied This “Bluesky can intervene if necessary.”

Why is the symbol blue-white check, like Twitter, instead of a blue butterfly or something unique?

Finally, some people wondered if the perception of this appearance and a sense of Twitter checks made sense. Bluesky is different, so you should not use any other design language?

Frazee Answer questions About that, too, saying at different times The company had tried other colors like Green, but found that Blue Belle Beethed Bluesky’s Platepe.

The team did not formally explain why he went with a traditional check -up instead of a blue butterfly, for example, As many have suggestedS However, it is probably just the question that the inspection is a recognized symbol of understood meaning.