It's the old days of Twitter all over again: Bluesky is launching an official verification process for awarding the blue check mark to "notable" user accounts, adding to the platform's existing option to self-verify using an owned domain. Since 2023, Bluesky has allowed individuals and organizations to "verify" their own accounts by setting their domain as their user name—NPR is @npr.org, for example, and NPR journalists are on the subdomain @name.npr.org—in a decentralized approach to signaling authenticity and building trust. Because connecting a domain required users to own or have access to that domain, this was one way of proving identity. However, Bluesky still saw a rash of fake and impersonator accounts, as self-verification required users to know (or investigate) which domains were real and trustworthy. Bluesky will soon launch a more centralized verification process that requires accounts to be reviewed and approved by platform moderators. Verification exists in various forms across other social platforms, ranging from pay-to-play on X (replacing the legacy verification process for notable and authentic accounts) to Instagram's applications for accounts representing a "well-known, highly searched-for person, brand or entity" that has been featured in multiple news sources.How Bluesky verification worksAccording to a blog post announcing the change, Bluesky's moderation team will "proactively verify authentic and notable accounts," which will then have a blue check mark displayed next to their names. In addition, select organizations will have the power to issue blue check marks directly through the Trusted Verifiers feature—for example, The New York Times will be able verify its individual journalists. Bluesky's moderators will still review each verification, and other users will be able to see which organization granted it by tapping on the blue check. For now, individuals and organizations cannot apply to be verified, though Bluesky expects to open requests for verification and Trusted Verifier status at some point in the future "as this feature stabilizes." Users can still self-verify using domain names. If you prefer, you can hide verification in the Bluesky app under Settings > Moderation > Verification Settings.