Blue verified check marks now displayed by Google on email senders

New Delhi: Google has now announced that it will follow Twitter in displaying a Blue checkmark next to a sender's name to verify their authenticity and reduce scams. This service is now free.

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI), a feature that requires senders to apply strong authentication and authenticate their brand logo in order to display a brand logo as an avatar in emails, was first launched by the firm in Gmail in 2021.

"Building upon that feature, users will now see a checkmark icon for senders that have adopted BIMI. This will help users identify messages from legitimate senders versus impersonators," the company said in a statement.

The feature has been rolled out and is available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, along with users with personal Google accounts.

Companies that have adopted BIMI will automatically receive the checkmark.

"Strong email authentication helps users and email security systems identify and stop spam, and also enables senders to leverage their brand trust," said the tech giant.

"This increases confidence in email sources and gives readers an immersive experience, creating a better email ecosystem for everyone," it added.

The Blue check mark comes to Google after Elon Musk removed all legacy Blue badges on the platform, and now charges Rs 900 a month (Rs 9,400 a year) from individual users for Blue ticks and $1,000 from organisations for Gold ticks.

Meta is also testing paid verification for Instagram and Facebook for $11.99 per month on the web and $14.99 per month on mobile.

Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that a "Meta Verified" account will grant users a verified badge, increased visibility on the platforms, prioritised customer support, and more.

The feature was rolled out to Australia and New Zealand in February and will arrive in more countries "soon".

With inputs from IANS