@wago yes but there is the additional wrinkle: say I am a journalist. I work for Big Newspaper. I want them to verify me, but I also do not want my employer to control my social media.

One answer is "use your Big Newspaper account whenever you post official work stuff" but frankly that is not how people use social media. rel=me allows us to be verified but not by an entity that 100% controls our entire social media presence