Google has announced a slew of security enhancements headed for G Suite services, including some we’ve heard about like admin changes for Google Meet, but one of the biggest announcements is all about Gmail. Last year Google announced it joined the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) group (Verizon Media, the parent company of Engadget, is also a part of the group), which is pushing an email spec that adds brand logos to authenticated emails.

In practice it seems a lot like the verified stamps that have proliferated across social media, but when you see them it won’t be a blue check, it will be the logo of the company the sent the email, as shown above with CNN. Emails are authenticated using the existing DMARC system and then there’s certification that applies the associated logo, which hopefully gives people trust an email came from the company or person it’s claiming to represent.

In an effort to prevent more hacked accounts from posting crypto scams, Twitter has apparently chosen to disable tweets from verified accounts. Though the company has not yet confirmed this to us, Engadget staffers have experienced this with our own verified accounts. At the same time, we were able to tweet using our unverified accounts. Other users on Twitter are having the same experience.

You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 15, 2020

So far, the only tweet we’ve seen that acknowledges the issue is this one from Twitter Support, which states “You may be unable to tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident.” We’ve since reached out to Twitter for additional information.

“We’re in an arms race with these scammers, and we’ve got to join forces as an industry to keep all wireless customers protected,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a press release.

T-Mobile is also expanding its Caller Verified feature to 23 smartphones. Soon, customers with more devices will see “Caller Verified” on their screens when a non-spoofed call arrives from a T-Mobile or Sprint number.

T-Mobile and Sprint are not the first carriers to use the STIR/SHAKEN standards or to team up to verify cross-network calls. AT&T, Comcast and Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) offer the anti-robocall tool, and Comcast and AT&T verify calls between the two networks. The FCC has voted to allow carriers to block robocalls by default, so we may see more carriers adopt spam-blocking tech in the near future.

When you receive a message from a verified business, you’ll see the company name, logo and a verification badge in the message thread. Businesses must sign up to use Verified SMS, and so far, 1-800-Flowers, Banco Bradesco, Kayak, Payback and SoFi are on-board. Verified SMS is rolling out gradually in the US, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Mexico, Philippines, Spain and the UK.

Google is also adding real-time spam detection. When Google suspects a message is phishy or garbage, it will show a spam warning in Messages. You can help improve the feature by reporting spam texts and vouching for texts from legitimate businesses.

All of this is in addition to the Rich Communication Services (RCS) that Google introduced last month. Thanks to that feature, Android users in the US can get added Messages perks, like being able to chat over Wi-Fi, send high-quality messages and get read receipts.

Yesterday YouTube announced plans to change its policy around channel verification status. In a move to follow other social networks, the company said changes tying approval to authenticity and prominence would mean some might lose their tag, and would have to go through appeals to keep it.

After a quick and loud backlash to the plan YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki apologized, and YouTube just announced “Channels that currently have verification will now keep it without appeal.” The plan is still to reopen its process for verification next month for all channels that have over 100,000 subscribers, with an eye toward stamping the tag on channels that are both “authentic” and “complete.”

“While trying to make improvements, we missed the mark,” she wrote on Twitter. “As I write this, we’re working to address your concerns & we’ll have more updates soon.”

To our creators & users–I’m sorry for the frustration & hurt that we caused with our new approach to verification. While trying to make improvements, we missed the mark. As I write this, we’re working to address your concerns & we’ll have more updates soon.

— Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) September 20, 2019

YouTube said it was moving beyond subscriber counts to determine whether a channel should be verified. Instead of surpassing 100,000 subscribers (a threshold creators could game the system to reach), the service will take authenticity and prominence into account when choosing which channels to verify. In essence, it’s adopting the approach of many other social platforms, which verify people if there’s a solid chance they may be impersonated, or if there’s a reasonable possibility they’ll be confused with someone else.

As part of the change, YouTube told a strong of prominent figures they’d lose the vaunted checkmark — which it’s jettisoning anyway in favor of highlighting channel names to denote verified status. That led to confusion and disappointment among many in the community, as well as concern about losing out on brand deals.

Based on dozens of Instagram pages we reviewed, including those from ESPN, House of Highlights, LeBron James, Travis Scott, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and The Fat Jewish, these types of comments are becoming commonplace. Most of the accounts posting them have similar usernames, usually a name followed by a number (e.g. “cherylmason0” or “delpha_dibbert5”), signaling a coordinated effort by a bot farm. While the most common comment seems to be “We gonna ignore the fact that I’ve GOT A HUGE BOOTY,” there are many variations of this type of spam, such as:

“DON’T LOOK at my STORY, if you don’t want to M A S T U R B A T E !”

“Ok but I KNOW none of y’all can name a female badder than me”

“hey lonely man, what do you do in the bathroom besides taking a shower? answer honestly!”

“I Swear to G O D . if I top comment I will be N A K E D in front of the camera”

“We must Ignore this fact that I have a H U G E B O O T Y”

“I DARE YOU TO CALL ME A ‘THOT'”

“Bet y’all will addicted after seeing my story”

“Are we really going to ignore the fact that I have big TITS”

More often than not, these comments will rack up thousands of likes, sending them to the top of the comments section. Once you click on their profile, there are usually a handful of pictures of women in lingerie or bikinis, if they’re clothed at all. Meanwhile, the accounts’ description will say something like, “prepare yourself to watch my masturbation videos and watch out not to get hooked after seeing it,” followed by a “Click here” that points you to a shortened Linktree URL. If you click one of these links, you’re taken to a bunch of dubious sites like “Finder,” “Fuckbuddy,” “Livecam Masturbie” and “MyCuteGirlfriends,” some of which eventually ask you to enter personal information and sign up for an account.

Some of these Instagram pages will go as far as to post Stories to make people think they’re from a real human, but like their comments, they’re usually riddled with typos and look as if they were made with Microsoft Paint. “Did you think I’m an bot account?” read one Story. “1 luckiest follower will date with me tomorrow, all day you can do anything to me.” We found the different pages had anywhere from zero followers to somewhere in the hundreds.

“These damn bots are getting out of hand @Instagram. Do something about it Zucks.”

These bots are now so prevalent in the comments of popular Instagram pages that regular users are mocking the trend. Every now and then, you’ll see a comment from someone who’s clearly not a bot saying, “are we gonna ignore the fact that I have a BIG HEART” or “Are we gonna ignore the fact that I have NO TITS and FLAT ASS?” Others go straight to the point and say, “All the comments so far is just about girls betting nobody has bigger tits then them” or “These damn bots are getting out of hand @Instagram. Do something about it Zucks.”

Someone even created an Instagram account called “Bot Police,” which focuses on calling out and reporting these spam comments. BotPolice has 92,000 followers so far and, in its profile description, the motto reads “‘IvE GOt A hUgE bOoTy’ – yeah we don’t care. #NoBotsBy2020.”