Profile & Verification Policy

The three statuses

Publishing minimums

A profile appears in Discover, collections and search only once it has all four of these:

• A public name.
• A specific professional headline that says what the person creates or does.
• At least one expertise category.
• At least one reviewed public link: a social account, website, podcast, portfolio or published work.

Internally we also require a military connection, a supporting source and a review date before publishing. Photos, biographies, location, audience metrics and collaboration preferences are optional; we show initials when there is no photo and leave empty sections out. Unclaimed profiles can be published. A profile below the minimum keeps its address but is not listed until it is completed.

Creator-approved public wording

The public site shows branch of service and, if the creator has approved one, a short label about their military background. Service status such as active duty, Guard or Reserve, or veteran is held internally and never published, filtered on or used to build collections. A creator can set, change or revoke their public label and public location at any time from the dashboard or through a request; without an approved label the site shows "Military-connected creator." Public location is creator-approved and is never a duty assignment.

What Verified means

A Verified profile means Military Creator has reviewed and confirmed the creator's identity, military connection, primary professional identity, and principal public channels, using public records, professional sources, direct confirmation, or other appropriate evidence. The four checks are independent, and the badge appears only when all four have passed. A creator cannot edit their verification status.

What Verified does not mean

Verification does not mean Military Creator:

• endorses the creator
• endorses every opinion they express
• guarantees every claim on the profile
• confirms follower counts, engagement, audience demographics or campaign performance
• validates every piece of content they publish
• represents the creator commercially

Verification methods and sources

Military Creator may use official military and public-affairs biographies, professional biographies, employer and organization pages, LinkedIn, official creator websites, public social profiles, reputable media coverage, direct professional confirmation, and other credible public sources. For channels we may ask for a temporary code in a public bio to confirm the account is creator-controlled. We record that a check was completed and how, not the contents of any document.

Sensitive documents

We do not ask creators to upload a DD-214, military ID, Social Security information, or other sensitive personnel records as a standard verification method. If a military connection can't reasonably be verified from public or professional information, we handle the case individually and never store the records.

Corrections and changes

Creators who have claimed their page edit it from the dashboard; changes to a published profile go live after the Military Creator team reviews them. Anyone else, including a person who has not claimed their profile, can ask for a correction, a removal or a change to public military wording through the Corrections, Removal & Privacy Requests page. Verification can be revoked if information that supported it turns out to be wrong.

Paid placements

There are no paid placements in the Index today. Discover and collections are ordered editorially and by the filters a visitor chooses. If paid placement is ever introduced, it will be labelled as such wherever it appears, it will never change a profile's status, and it will never affect whether a profile passes verification or the publishing minimum. This policy will be updated before any such change.