# Verified Participants (https://terac.com/docs/researchers/trust-and-quality/verified-participants)

How Terac verifies the people in its panel, and how you can require specific verified credentials for your study.

Every participant on Terac is a member of the panel who has completed onboarding. Verification is what lets you trust that an applicant is a real, distinct person, and optionally that they meet specific verified criteria before they can apply.

## Attestations [#attestations]

An **attestation** is a verified badge on a participant's profile. It proves the participant has cleared a specific check. Attestations are earned once and reused across every opportunity, so participants are not re-verified for each study.

| Attestation                       | What it proves                                                                                                                              |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Government ID**                 | The participant verified a government-issued ID with a face match. This is the strongest identity signal and most opportunities require it. |
| **Phone**                         | The participant confirmed a phone number via a one-time SMS code.                                                                           |
| **Professional / social profile** | The participant connected a real professional or social account (such as LinkedIn).                                                         |

Identity verification is handled by a dedicated third-party verification partner. Terac does not store images of participants' ID documents. For the participant-side flow, see [Understanding Attestations](https://terac.com/docs/experts/how-to/attestations).

## Requiring Verified Accounts for Your Study [#requiring-verified-accounts-for-your-study]

In the Audience step of the builder you can require **connected accounts**: an applicant must link a real LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, or Microsoft account before they can apply. Use LinkedIn when professional authenticity matters, or a work identity provider when you need applicants tied to a real workplace.

Each requirement narrows your eligible pool, so only require what your study genuinely needs. Recruitment respects the requirement automatically: applicants who have not connected the account cannot start your study, and there is nothing further to check at review time.

> Government ID and phone verification are handled by Terac during panel
> onboarding rather than set per study. If your study needs a specific
> verification standard, raise it during the [feasibility
> check](https://terac.com/docs/researchers/recruitment/feasibility) so the audience is scoped to
> it.

> Required accounts are hard requirements applied before a participant can
> apply. They differ from [screening
> questions](https://terac.com/docs/researchers/opportunities/screening), which qualify
> participants on judged answers during the application flow.

## Preventing Duplicate Participation [#preventing-duplicate-participation]

Identity verification also underpins one-person-one-account integrity. To keep a single participant from entering the same study twice, rely on the platform's participation controls rather than trying to detect duplicates yourself after the fact. See [Submissions](https://terac.com/docs/researchers/results/submissions) for how participation is tracked.

## What's Next? [#whats-next]

- [Quality Controls](https://terac.com/docs/researchers/trust-and-quality/quality-controls): Keep low-effort work out of your dataset
- [Filters](https://terac.com/docs/researchers/recruitment/filters): Target the right audience before they apply