LONDON: Twitter confirmed it is testing a new verification profile badge for users who have confirmed their phone numbers.

Jane Manchun Wong, a researcher known for uncovering features on apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, hinted at the new development last week after discovering the platform’s intentions to label accounts with a verified phone number.

Twitter confirmed the rumor on Tuesday, adding it was an effort to “allow people to add context to their accounts.”

It already has similar features for users such as journalists, celebrities, government officials, and state-backed media. It has also created a label for helpful bots on the app.

However, while these blue badges are only issued to a select number of accounts with either a phone number or email address linked, if Twitter decides to launch the new feature, then millions of accounts could be entitled to receive the phone number verification label.

News about the feature, with some people speculating it would be a grey label on the bottom half of a person’s Twitter bio, comes amid the ongoing legal battle between Twitter and Elon Musk.

The Tesla CEO is seeking to cancel his multibillion-dollar acquisition, claiming the app misled him about key aspects of the business, particularly the number of fake accounts or automated “bots” instead of people.

Twitter said the new feature was part of a larger effort to “maintain the authenticity of the conversation on the platform by offering individuals more options to identify and express themselves on Twitter and in their accounts.”

It remains unclear whether the company is more concerned with giving users more transparency about their conversation or simply finding a way to flag a non-bot profile.