Reddit explores testing ‘Official’ label for profiles

A Reddit admin (employee) revealed that early testing is underway to add a visual indicator on specific profiles. The indicator aims to offer proof of authenticity, minimize impersonation, and enhance transparency across the platform.

San Francisco: Social discussion platform Reddit is testing an ‘Official’ label for profiles, in order to reduce impersonation.

“We’re beginning early testing of placing a visual indicator on certain profiles to provide proof of authenticity, reduce impersonation, and increase transparency across the platform,” a Reddit admin (employee) wrote in a post.

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The feature is currently only available to a very small number of profiles that belong to organisations.

These profiles will have an Official label appear next to their username wherever it shows up across the platform.

The new label is designed to help mods and users quickly identify the organisations, and allows them to trust that these users are who they say they are.

The label is a visual indicator of an authenticated profile, and it does not unlock any special privileges or protection.

“We’re actively working with a group of moderators to get feedback on this, and as this is an early test, the learnings we gain will inform next steps for this roll-out. We’ll continue to keep you updated,” the admin said.

The admin further mentioned that Automod will now run before post and comment reply notifications are sent out.

This includes both push notifications and email notifications.

The change will be fully rolled out in the next few weeks, and is designed to improve the user experience on the platform.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, u/venkman01 from the Reddit product team had
said that the platform is sunsetting its coins– including Community coins for moderators– and awards– including Medals, Premium Awards and Community Awards) systems.

Users will now no longer be able to purchase new coins, but all awards and
existing coins will continue to be available until September 12, 2023.

u/venkman01 also said that Reddit Premium is “not going away.”

However, after September 12, the company will discontinue the monthly coin
drip and Premium Awards. Other current Premium perks will still exist, including the ad-free experience.