Reddit has started testing its version of verification badges on its platform with a new “Official” label. According to a post by a Reddit admin, the new label is in early testing and is only available to a small group of organizations (“in the double digits”) that already have existing relationships with Reddit. The company says that the label will appear next to their usernames, similar to how flairs are currently implemented.
Reddit clarifies that this should not be taken as an endorsement or promotion on its part and that it’s simply there to identify authentic brand accounts. “The label is a visual indicator of an authenticated profile, and it does not unlock any special privileges or protections. This new ‘Official’ label should not be mistaken for our existing ‘Promoted’ label, which continues to be our (only) indicator of a paid ad,” Reddit says.
It’s worth noting that this is a test on Reddit’s part and it’s unclear if or when the company plans on expanding the program to cover more than just businesses. Reddit seems to be taking the classic Twitter approach, manually verifying brands at this time. This is in contrast to other platforms such as Instagram, which allow users to pay for their respective verification badges. Though, it’s possible that Reddit shifts to the latter method down the line when it needs to start verifying both users and brands.
Reddit has had a rough last several months as the company has changed its API rules. Third-party developers used Reddit’s APIs to build thousands of apps that hook into the social media platform. With the shutdown, many subreddits closed or restricted access to protest the change. And of the subreddits that were forced to open back up, some started marking all new posts as NSFW, which prevented Reddit from monetizing them.
