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AI & Credentials

Verification Policy

What "identity verified" means and how it is earned and lost, the "ACADA staff" label, confirmed emails and checkable certificates, and everything that is not verified at all.

Last updated on October 25, 2026.

"Identity verified" on ACADA means one thing: through Stripe, we have confirmed that a real, identified adult holds the account. It is granted automatically to anyone whose payout account Stripe has verified, never by hand and never for money, and it comes off when Stripe's answer changes. It says nothing about qualifications, courses or skill. Every account's email address is confirmed; every certificate can be checked at acada.ac/verify; ACADA's own accounts carry the label "ACADA staff". Nothing else on ACADA is verified, and nobody may say it is.

This summary is for orientation only. The sections below are the operative terms.

1. What this covers

This statement defines every use of the word "verified" on acada.ac, run by ACADA L.L.C., a Tennessee limited liability company (ACADA, we): the identity mark on a profile, the label on our own accounts, the confirmation of an email address, and the verification of a certificate. It says what each one means, how it is granted and lost, and what is not verified at all. What a certificate itself represents is in the Credential Policy.

2. Identity verified

An account marked Identity verified is one where Stripe, which handles every payout ACADA makes, has verified the person behind the member's payout account: their legal name, date of birth and identity document, checked against the records Stripe uses for everyone it pays. When Stripe reports that person verified, we mark the account; when Stripe no longer does, because the payout account was closed, disabled or asked for more, the mark comes off. We do not see the document, and we do not repeat the check. The mark is shown with those two words beside the member's name on their profile and, for an instructor, beside "Taught by" on their course pages, and never as a checkmark alone. Beside it, on hover or tap: "ACADA confirmed through Stripe that a real, identified adult holds this account. It says nothing about their qualifications."

3. Who has it

Anyone ACADA pays: an instructor, a collaborator or an affiliate who has set up a payout account and whom Stripe has verified. It is automatic and free, and there is no form to fill in on ACADA. A member who has never taken a paid role has no payout account and no mark, and needs none; the mark exists so that people relying on someone here, students on an instructor most of all, can know there is an identified adult behind the name. We do not offer a separate identity check, and we do not sell the mark.

4. The name on the account

The mark verifies the person, not the name they show. Under Account & Identity a member uses their real name or a name they are genuinely known by, and a verified instructor may still show the name they are known by rather than the legal name Stripe holds. That is why the mark reads "identity verified" and not "name verified". A name chosen to make people think the account is someone else's is impersonation, mark or no mark, and loses the mark under section 6.

5. ACADA staff

An account that belongs to ACADA carries the label ACADA staff on its profile and beside its name in rooms. No other account can carry it. We never ask for your password, a payment card or a payment by message, as Fraud & Scams says; a message asking for any of those is not from us, whatever name is on it, and a member posing as staff is closed at once under that policy.

6. Losing the mark

  • Stripe's answer changes. The mark follows Stripe: a payout account that is closed, disabled or missing something loses it, and gets it back when Stripe verifies the person again.
  • Staff revoke it. Nobody at ACADA can grant the mark, but we can take it off, with a reason on your record, where the account turns out to be operated by someone other than the person Stripe verified, or was used to impersonate someone. While revoked, Stripe's signal does not put it back; it returns only when we lift the revocation and Stripe still verifies the person. A revocation is a decision you can appeal under Account Enforcement & Appeals.
  • The account closes. The mark goes with it. It does not transfer to another account, and a second account is not verified because a first one was.

7. Email and certificates

Every account's email address is confirmed before the account can be used: we send a message to it and the member follows the link. That confirms the address reaches them and nothing more. Every certificate has a number and can be checked by anyone at acada.ac/verify, which says whether it is valid, who holds it and which course it records; the Credential Policy says what that means. Neither is shown as a mark on a profile.

8. What is not verified

Nothing else. In particular:

  • Qualifications, experience and claims. We do not check what an instructor says about themselves, as the Educational Disclaimer says, and the identity mark does not change that.
  • Courses. No course is reviewed, approved, accredited or endorsed by us. There is no "verified course".
  • Skills, achievements, XP and levels. Records of activity on ACADA, checked by nobody, as the Credential Policy sets out.
  • Reviews. A review can only be written by a student enrolled in the course, and we say so; the opinion in it is the student's, and nobody verifies it.
  • Affiliates, collaborators, students. A role is not a verification; the mark on a role holder means what section 2 says and nothing else.

9. What this statement does not do

  • It does not vouch for anyone. The mark confirms an identity exists behind the account. It is not our recommendation, and it does not make us responsible for what the account does.
  • It does not let anyone claim more. Calling an account, a course or a certificate "verified by ACADA", "ACADA-verified" or the like, beyond what the mark itself says, is forbidden by the Trademark policy and the Affiliate Marketing Guidelines; claiming a mark you do not have is impersonation under the Community Guidelines.
  • It does not describe the check. Stripe's verification is Stripe's; what it collects and keeps is governed by Stripe's own terms, and what we keep, which is the fact, the date and the route, is in the Privacy Policy.

10. Changes to this statement

When we change this statement, we change the date shown at the top. If a change adds a rule or a consequence, we post a notice in the app at least 14 days before it takes effect.

11. Contact

To report an account you believe is posing as someone, or as ACADA, use the Report button on the profile and choose "Impersonation". For a question about your own mark, write to support@acada.ac.

12. Related policies