According to The Verge, Reddit announced today that it is starting a “limited alpha test” for verified profiles on its platform. Users selected for this “initial test” are a group of “public figures and trusted partners” who must opt in, have accounts in good standing, and actively contribute. Those verified will get a gray checkmark next to their username across profiles, communities, feeds, and search results. Reddit explicitly states that verification “doesn’t grant special privileges” and is currently not requestable by users. Businesses that already had the “Official” label from a 2023 test will now see that replaced with the new gray checkmark. The company frames this as a voluntary tool to add clarity and ease the manual verification burden on community moderators.
Reddit’s Anti-Status Play
Here’s the thing: Reddit is trying *really* hard to frame this as the anti-Twitter (sorry, X) verification. No special privileges. A boring gray check, not a flashy gold or blue one. It’s “explicitly not about status.” But let’s be real—any badge on a social platform creates a hierarchy, whether they intend it to or not. The immediate impact is subtle. For the average user scrolling, a gray check on a celebrity or known developer’s comment will probably lend a bit more weight to what they’re saying in a debate. And that’s the whole point, right? To cut through the noise of impersonators and give moderators a break. It’s a pragmatic move wrapped in Reddit’s typical “we’re not like other platforms” rhetoric.
The Real Stakeholder: Moderators
When Reddit says this is to “ease the burden on moderators who often verify users manually,” they’re not kidding. For large subreddits, confirming that an AMA guest or a notable industry figure is who they say they are is a manual, time-consuming process. A platform-level verification system, even a basic one, automates that trust. That’s a genuine benefit. But the test is so limited right now—just a pre-selected group—that this relief won’t be felt in the trenches for a while. The big question is how they scale it. Will they open a request portal? Will they charge for it? Their commitment to pseudonymity suggests they might keep it extremely narrow, maybe only for truly public-facing individuals. Otherwise, the whole “not about status” thing falls apart fast.
What’s Next for Identity?
So where does this go? Replacing the “Official” label for businesses is a clear signal they want one unified system. It’s cleaner. But the official support article is pretty bare-bones, which tells you this is a very early experiment. The long-term play might be less about users and more about attracting a certain class of poster—experts, creators, officials—to contribute more freely knowing their identity is protected but also validated. It’s a tricky balance. Get it wrong, and you alienate the core user base that values anonymity. Get it right, and you might improve the quality of discourse without turning into a badge-collecting status game. I think they’re being cautious, and that’s probably smart. But the internet has a way of assigning value to these symbols, no matter what color they are.
