verifysocial.org

This website proves the owner of one social account is also the owner of another.

Its primary use at the moment is for people who create an account on Bluesky to link it to one of their “traditionally” verified accounts on another social platform to achieve the same verification on Bluesky, which is different from Bluesky’s domain verification – that is, importantly, used as one of the mechanisms. This is done simply by the author of this website verifying account links you send, then adding a page that publishes the results publicly at a link that anyone can check, like this one.

For Bluesky accounts, valid DNS records are also published so you can use `.verifysocial.org` as your handle using their domain verification mechanism. (It’s better to use your own official website in your handle, if possible, but this is an option if e.g. you don’t have a website.)

If you are unsure why this works for verification, please read the “How it works” section.

How to verify your Bluesky account

Currently supports Instagram as a verification source.

  1. From your verified Instagram account, send me a DM containing a link to your Bluesky account.
  2. From your Bluesky account, send me a DM containing a link to your verified Instagram account.
  3. Wait for me to reply with a verifysocial.org user page link and a domain handle.
  4. Optional: Add the received user page link to your Bluesky profile description so people can easily verify you.
  5. Optional: Set the received domain handle as your handle on Bluesky. If you do this, the common recommendation is to create a new Bluesky account using your previous `*.bsky.social` handle so that no one else can claim it.

How to verify your Mastodon account

Currently supports Instagram as a verification source.

  1. DM me a link to your Mastodon account from the Instagram account you want it to be linked to.
  2. Wait for me to reply with a verifysocial.org user page link.
  3. Edit your Mastodon profile and add the received link to the “Profile metadata” section, using “verifysocial” as its label. Make sure you click “Save changes”.
  4. Visit your public Mastodon profile and verify that the newly added link is marked in green and has a checkmark.

How it works

By posting or a link to e.g. your Bluesky or Mastodon account, from e.g. your Instagram account, you are creating an implicit link between the two accounts. Someone following you on Instagram can now know that the Bluesky or Mastodon account is yours or at least belongs to whoever controls your Instagram account.

But in the other direction, further verification is needed. If you find an account on Bluesky or Mastodon that looks like a known user on Instagram, there is no way to know if it’s legit. However, both Bluesky and Mastodon have features to solve this.

On Mastodon, it works by adding some HTML code containing your profile link to a web page you own. Once you link to that web page from your Mastodon profile, that bit of code is picked up and verified, and Mastodon shows a green checkmark next to the link since you have now proved ownership. Your verifysocial.org user page acts as such a web page, also containing a list of social accounts that are known to be controlled by the same person, including the Mastodon account.

On Bluesky, you can just add your verifysocial.org user page to your profile so that other users can easily verify that the same person controls that account and some other, already known and verified, social account. Additionally, using the special `.verifysocial.org` subdomain as your handle gives a visual indication that you have carried out such verification.

An important piece of the puzzle is that someone has to vouch for the connections between the different social accounts to be accurate. My current low-tech solution is that you simply tell me. By creating a user page for you here on verifysocial.org, I attest that you told me your Mastodon profile link from your Instagram account (and the other way around too, for Bluesky).

Contact

This website is run by Markus Amalthea Magnuson. My verifysocial.org user page lists my social accounts.