Bluesky updates policy on impersonation and parody accounts, removing accounts if they are not clearly stated to be fake

Bluesky, a rapidly growing competitor to X (formerly Twitter) and Threads, has announced that it will adopt an 'aggressive approach' to celebrity impersonation and parody accounts.

1/ With more users joining Bluesky, we know how important it is to identify which accounts are real. Users deserve confidence that the accounts they interact with are authentic.

Sharing some details about our impersonation policy 🧵

— Bluesky Safety ( @safety.bsky.app ) November 30, 2024 5:46

Bluesky promises more verification and an 'aggressive' approach to impersonation | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/30/bluesky-promises-more-verification-and-an-aggressive-approach-to-impersonation/

Bluesky Safety, which shares information about Bluesky's reliability and safety, announced that it has updated its policy on impersonation accounts on November 30, 2024 local time.

'We've been working behind the scenes to help many organisations and celebrities set up verified domain handles. In the meantime, we've updated our impersonation policy to be stricter. Accounts engaging in impersonation or handle squatting (the act of obtaining a handle (user name) in order to sell it later: cybersquatting ) will be removed,' Bluesky said, revealing its policy to take a strict stance against impersonation accounts and cybersquatting.

2/ We are working behind the scenes to help many organizations and high-profile individuals set up their verified domain handles. In the meantime, we've updated our impersonation policy to be more aggressive. Impersonation and handle-squatting accounts will be removed.

— Bluesky Safety ( @safety.bsky.app ) November 30, 2024 5:46

He added, 'We've also quadrupled the size of our moderation team to respond more quickly to impersonation reports. As we previously communicated, we still have a large backlog of moderation reports due to the influx of new users, but we are making progress,' revealing that he has increased the team that moderates Bluesky.

3/ We have also quadrupled the size of our moderation team, in part to action impersonation reports more quickly. We still have a large backlog of moderation reports due to the influx of new users as we shared previously, though we are making progress.

— Bluesky Safety ( @safety.bsky.app ) November 30, 2024 5:46

Bluesky Safety has already announced that the size of the moderation team has increased fourfold as of November 26, 2024. Bluesky Safety explained that the reason for increasing the moderation team was to 'strengthen moderation in areas of high importance, such as child safety, in the short term, as harmful content is increasing with the rapid increase in the number of users.'

Bluesky decides to increase moderation staff from 25 to 100, strengthening response to child pornography and local culture - GIGAZINE

In addition, 'Parody, satire, and fan accounts are allowed on Bluesky, but you must clearly indicate in both your display name and profile that your account is not official, so that others know that it is not official. Accounts that contain any of these elements will be labeled as impersonation,' he said. Although impersonation accounts are allowed, they must clearly indicate that they are impersonation accounts in both their account name and profile, and impersonation accounts will be labeled as impersonation accounts.

4/ Parody, satire, or fan accounts are allowed on Bluesky, but they must clearly label themselves in both the display name and bio to help others know the account isn't official. Accounts with only one of these elements will receive an impersonation label.

— Bluesky Safety ( @safety.bsky.app ) November 30, 2024 5:46

It also states that 'identity churning (changing your account identity with the intent to mislead users) is not permitted on Bluesky. If you set up a fake account just to gain more followers and then switch to a different, non-fake identity to keep that account, your account will be deleted,' and explains that identity churning is prohibited.

5/ Identity churning (changing your account identity with the intent to mislead users) is not allowed on Bluesky. If you set up an impersonation account just to gain followers and switch to a different identity that is no longer impersonation to keep that account, your account will be removed.

— Bluesky Safety ( @safety.bsky.app ) November 30, 2024 5:46

Finally, Bluesky said, 'We've heard your feedback. Users want ways to verify their identity beyond domain verification. We're also considering additional options to strengthen account verification and will provide more details soon,' revealing that a system to identify whether 'famous people's accounts are genuine' similar to X's verification badge will be implemented.

6/ We also hear your feedback: users want more ways to verify their identity beyond domain verification. We're exploring additional options to enhance account verification, and we hope to share more shortly.

— Bluesky Safety ( @safety.bsky.app ) November 30, 2024 5:46

Since Bluesky does not have an account authentication system, volunteers have created their own authentication list so that anyone can tell whether the accounts of celebrities and others are genuine or not.