Bluesky is finally giving its users a feature that’s been long overdue — the coveted blue check. But unlike the mess that verification became on X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky is trying to bring some actual meaning back to the badge.
In a blog post published Monday, the decentralized social network announced it’s officially rolling out verified blue checkmarks to “authentic and notable” accounts. The move is designed to help users trust who they’re interacting with — without making them pay for it.
“Trust is everything,” the company wrote, echoing a sentiment that feels almost radical in a post-Elon Twitterverse.
Let’s back up.
After Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, he scrapped the old verification system that confirmed public figures were who they claimed to be. Instead, he tied the blue check to X Premium subscriptions — essentially, pay-to-play verification. The result? A flood of impersonators and a whole lot of confusion. What was once a credibility marker became a status symbol for whoever could afford it.
Bluesky, launched as a side project by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey back in 2019, is now leaning into verification as a public good — not a product. And it’s doing it on its own terms.
Rather than selling checks, Bluesky is proactively verifying prominent users across journalism, government, entertainment, and beyond. A select group of “trusted verifiers” — including organizations like The New York Times and WIRED — can now authenticate affiliated users. These verified accounts will be marked with a scalloped blue check, making it visually distinct from Bluesky’s existing domain-based verification method.
That system, which allows users to prove their identity by linking their account to a custom web domain, already had more than 270,000 users on board. But it wasn’t exactly user-friendly — especially for creators and journalists without the time or tech know-how to manage domains.
Bluesky’s new system adds much-needed simplicity and credibility. And it comes as the platform continues to scale rapidly, crossing 35 million users as of April 2025. It’s still invite-only, but the gates are gradually opening.
“This is our coming-out year,” said Bluesky COO Rose Wang in a recent interview. “People want a space that’s safe, moderated, and fun — and right now, they’re not getting that anywhere else.”
The company says it plans to expand verification access with a public request form in the coming months. For now, verified users can choose to display or hide their check in settings, and profile badges link to verification details for transparency.
It’s still early days, but Bluesky’s approach feels like a deliberate course correction — not just from the chaos of Musk’s X, but from the broader social media landscape where verification has often been about clout, not clarity.
If Bluesky can scale this without losing the plot, it might actually deliver what Twitter once promised: a place where you can actually know who you’re talking to.
And in 2025, that might be the most disruptive thing of all.
