Blue checks (Bluesky’s version): What journalists need to know
If you’re a journalist who made the move from the bird to the butterfly app, you may be excited to hear that the blue check is now a Bluesky feature. On Monday, the Bluesky team announced the launch of this new (old?) form of verification in a blog post.
Since 2023, Bluesky has let users verify their identity by claiming a web domain attached to their username (and journalists can verify their accounts using their employers’ domains). More than 270,000 accounts have taken advantage of this form of self-verification, according to Bluesky. But users were hungry for a feature that would allow them to spot “authentic and notable” accounts at a glance.
“Domain handles continue to be an important part of verification on Bluesky,” per the blog post. “At the same time, we’ve heard from users that a larger visual signal would be useful in knowing which accounts are authentic.”
Bluesky’s approach to blue checks reflects the platform’s embrace of decentralization. While Bluesky itself can issue blue checks, they can also be issued by “Trusted Verifiers,” which allows “select independent organizations” to verify accounts directly. (These verifications are still subject to review by Bluesky.) In their announcement, Bluesky’s example of a trusted verifier was The New York Times. The Athletic (part of The New York Times) and the tech news site Wired are the only other news organization accounts we spotted that have been awarded “trusted verifier” status.
Here we go! @kateconger.com was verified – not by Bluesky but by the NYTimes, one of the “trusted verifiers”
Gonna keep saying it: a healthy digital society should distribute power!
— Paul Frazee (@pfrazee.com) April 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
we are sooooooooooooooooo back
more on the blue check here: www.wired.com/story/bluesk…
— WIRED (@wired.com) April 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
“Trusted verifiers” are distinguished by a scalloped blue check. Verified accounts, meanwhile, have a simple round blue check.
The Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN, NPR, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg News, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The Verge were among verified accounts for news organizations as of Tuesday afternoon (along with The Onion). Bluesky also verified independent journalists including The Handbasket’s Marisa Kabas.
Before verification was monetized under Elon Musk’s ownership, Twitter’s blue checks were a minor status symbol on the social platform despite — or because of — the fact the verification process was weirdly opaque.
For now, journalists who want to apply for blue check verification on Bluesky will have to wait. “As this feature stabilizes, we’ll launch a request form for notable and authentic accounts interested in becoming verified or becoming trusted verifiers,” the Bluesky team writes.