Bluesky could soon get a new Blue Checkmark verification system, according to the changes to the public Github repository of the app noticed on Friday by the reverse engineer Alice.Memphere.at.
Blue controls can have an appearance similar to the system open from Twitter, now X, but Bluesky’s version seems to work in a very different way.
The Bluesky Blue Control System can rely on multiple organizations to distribute blue controls, according to the modifications at the basis of the code. This suggests that Bluesky will actively verify remarkable accounts, but they will also label some organizations such as “trusted verifiers” and will give them the authority to directly issue blue checks alone.
The changes to the Bluesky verification system can be announced as soon as Monday, according to a post link on the blog found in Friday’s request for a “verification”, which is dated on April 21, 2025.
While Bluesky already allows users to verify by linking their accounts to official websites, CEO Jay Graber has let me suggest that the company would experience other types of verification. Last year, Graber said that Bluesky could experience a system in which he is not the only group that can check users.
Pull’s request also shows an icon, a blue circle containing a white tick sign, which will appear on the profiles of the users verified. In the meantime, the trusted verifiers will have grown blue circles containing a white check mark on their profiles.
An image identified in Bluesky’s next announcement suggests that the New York Times and other trusted news publishers may soon have the opportunity to check users in the blue control system. By touching the blue control of a user, other users can see which organizations have granted the verification, according to the changes.
Bluesky’s approach to verification is very different from how X manages its verification services. While X used to distribute blue checks to popular and authentic accounts, Elon Musk has decided to review the system and check only users who pay a monthly subscription. Since then Musk has gone back that decision, giving blue checks to some influential users who do not pay it, while allowing other people to pay it.
Some claimed that X has completely diluted the value of a blue control over its platform, also allowing to verify some bot accounts.
Bluesky did not immediately respond to Techcrunch’s comment request.
Bluesky seems to adopt a decentralized approach to verification and spreading decision -making power to different organizations. This could mean that many users on Bluesky are verified, but it remains to be seen how this approach will work in practice.
