Youtube Verify -

I chose the credit card route because, frankly, uploading my driver's license to a Google server feels like a privacy breach waiting to happen. The process charged a tiny temporary authorization fee (which is standard) and then refunded it.

I went through this last week. The text arrived instantly. I punched in the code. Boom. Done. My channel was "Verified." youtube verify

The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Verification: From Phone Verification to the Checkmark I chose the credit card route because, frankly,

Ultimately, YouTube’s democratization of verification was a well-intentioned failure. By trying to reward more creators, the platform inadvertently destroyed the badge’s core value. A true verification system must be exclusive; it must separate the unique from the common. Today, YouTube’s checkmark verifies only one thing: that you know how to count to 100,000. That is not verification. That is just a milestone. The text arrived instantly

Verification will help to:

Choose whether to receive a or an automated voice call . Enter your phone number and hit "Submit".

From a security standpoint, linking a phone number is the single best thing you can do to prevent your channel from being hijacked. I manage a channel with a decent following, and the number of phishing emails I get is staggering. Knowing that a hacker cannot change my password or transfer my channel without access to my physical phone is a massive relief.