The social networks They have historically had a problem: fake profiles. Anyone could create an account on virtually any platform, with any name they wanted and put a profile picture. This gave rise to identity fraud, accounts that you don’t know if they are real or fake, duplicate profiles… Little by little, many services have been introducing different options to improve identification. Twitter (now X), wants to make identification more reliable.
This social network plans to require a selfie and ID photo to verify the identity of the user. At least, of those who have a verified account. A way to give greater reliability and avoid possible scams. Ending fake profiles, accounts that may simply be a hoax, is one of the objectives.
Selfie and ID to verify Twitter
As you know, on Twitter or X, you are going to meet profiles that are verified. They are usually used by famous people, who have many followers, institutions, companies… The idea is that they cannot impersonate identity. The problem is that there have been cases in which they have continued to impersonate. A person can create an account, verify it, and then change the name to make it look like it belongs to someone else. As simple as putting another photo.
What we are discussing can lead to computer attacks all types. They could share false links to reach victims, send spam, share malware… Now, from Twitter, they are working to make this verification more reliable and to be able to fight identity theft in a more optimal way.
Now an applications researcher, nima owji, has shared a screenshot of what may be the future of Twitter. Apparently, the social network plans for users to take a selfie and take a photo of an official document, such as the ID or passport. The idea is to be able to correctly verify the identity, for security and protection purposes.
It can bring controversy, logically, since Twitter or X will have to store those images for a while. In fact, it seems that he is going to share them with the company au10tixwhich will be in charge of verifying those images and detecting patterns of fraud that may exist.
At the moment, from X they have not confirmed that they are working on this verification technique, nor when they would launch it. However, it is something that is expected to happen. It is clear that they want to make verified accounts completely trustworthy, so it is something that will be available sooner rather than later.
Will it come to other platforms?
The question we ask ourselves is whether we will see this verification technique in many other social networks and online platforms. Will it be normal to have to take a photo of ourselves, and also of the DNI, to be able to register in online services and thus avoid that they can impersonate the identity?
Without a doubt, it is an option that will filter the accounts much better and it will be much less likely to run into fake profiles. Now, like everything, it has its negative points. One of them is that this platform is going to have to store, at least for a while, the images that we share. There could be leaks and that’s where the problem starts.
In short, as you can see, Twitter seems to be working on a way to improve account verification. It will allow users to send a selfie, as well as an image of their ID or passport, to verify that they really are who they say they are. You can always identify intruders on social networks.
