Reddit is testing ‘official’ labels for profiles and making elements of its app appropriate with display screen readers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Reddit is beginning to take a look at a brand new “Official” label that may make it simpler to identify if an account is genuine. The brand new label will seem sitewide, that means that it gained’t be as much as the moderators of particular person subreddits to need to confirm particular accounts.

“Beginning right this moment, we’re starting early testing of putting a visible indicator on sure profiles to supply proof of authenticity, cut back impersonation, and enhance transparency throughout the platform,” a Reddit admin (worker) wrote in a publish. “That is presently solely accessible to a *very* small (double-digit) variety of profiles belonging to organizations with whom we have already got current relationships, and who’re occupied with participating with redditors and communities on our platform.”

Proper now, the “Official” labels are solely seen on Reddit’s iOS and Android apps. “As we consider the outcomes of the experiment, we’ll iterate — which is able to embrace rolling it to different platforms,” the admin stated. And having the “Official” label “doesn’t unlock any particular privileges or protections.”

You will get an thought of how the label appears to be like on this picture from Reddit:

Picture: Reddit

In a separate publish, Reddit introduced accessibility enhancements supposed to make its iOS and Android apps work higher with display screen readers. Within the publish, the corporate stated that “distinguished surfaces” within the apps shall be “appropriate together with your gadget’s display screen reader” starting in August and offered the next timeline for what elements of the app shall be appropriate with display screen readers and when:

Navigation: left navigation menu, profile drawer, and backside tab bar i.e. buttons are entry factors to dwelling and group feeds, create a publish, chat, and inbox (mid-August)

Group web page (mid-August)

Publish element web page (mid-August)

Dwelling & In style feed (late August)

Reddit can also be promising that accessibility enhancements shall be “constantly integrated in future product updates and releases.”

Accessibility advocates had been a key a part of the protests towards Reddit’s API pricing that pressured some third-party apps to close down, saying that the official apps didn’t have accessibility options that some customers wanted. The corporate has made some progress: it exempted some accessibility-focused apps from the API pricing, introduced accessibility upgrades for moderators final month, and, final week, invited mods to a brand new Accessibility Suggestions Group.

However it looks as if Reddit should have some work to do on communication. MostlyBlindGamer, a mod of r/Blind (which met with Reddit to debate accessibility in June), advised me in an e-mail that the moderation crew didn’t know in regards to the timeline of options introduced Wednesday till they had been introduced.

In a reply to Wednesday’s Reddit publish, MostlyBlindGamer additionally stated that they’d stuffed out the shape for the Accessibility Suggestions Group however hadn’t gotten any suggestions. A Reddit admin stated the corporate plans to pick individuals subsequent week.

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