In recent months, blue check marks have been the talk of Internet users. First it was Twitter, allowing the famous blue check to be available to anyone who pays the $8 Twitter Blue fee. Then it was Meta, introducing a similar verification mechanism after payment, although with a more thorough identity verification system.
Now, Google has also “joined the trend” of blue check marks, although its purpose is much more reasonable. As published by the company in a blog post, Gmail will start displaying a blue check next to the sender’s name in order to verify his or her identity.
This verification system would have the function of helping users to easily identify the sender and know whether the email they have received comes from a legitimate source or from scammers performing scam and phishing.
Under the name “Brand Indicators for Message Identification”, or BIMI, this feature launched in 2021 allows companies to certify as legitimate their email addresses after having validated their brand logo (displayed as a profile picture in emails), proving that it belongs to them. Companies that have passed the validation process and adopted the BIMI feature will receive the blue verification mark automatically.
This check mark will display a small text on mouse-over, detailing that “the sender of this email has verified” that they own the domain and profile picture they use to send the email. In this way, Google would have a way to counter the flood of scam emails in which they impersonate courier companies or even technology companies.
In short: a moral and intelligent way to use the verification marks, which puts the welfare of users before the economic benefit of the company.
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