Musk, for example, could seek real names in accounts. Or it may continue to allow nicknames but require photo authentication or integration with third-party services where users are already known.
Depending on the outcome, the plan could have far-reaching implications for the hundreds of millions of Twitter users. Musk’s attempt to “verify” Twitter users comes from one of his biggest pets with the platform: spam accounts, especially those that push cryptocurrency scams. It is often not difficult to find these accounts hidden in the responses to Musk’s tweets. Many even try to exchange his fame and entice the unsuspecting by impersonating him.
It did not help that in the summer of 2020, Musk’s verified account was affected by a widespread Twitter harassment that led users, such as former President Barack Obama and Kanye West, to inadvertently spread a bitcoin scam. Cryptocurrency spam bots, Musk said, represent Twitter’s “single most annoying problem.” Musk diagnostics may reflect the experiences of a very specific type of user, but it happens that this user will soon be checking the design of the platform. As part of his solution to the fight against cryptocurrency robots, Musk wants to make it easier to separate real from fake accounts as part of his proposal to “verify the identity of all real people.”
If the goal is to ensure that each account is linked to a person with flesh and blood, the platform will need some way to verify that they are real. One possibility is to extend the existing Twitter verification program. Currently, in order to receive a blue check on their accounts, users must provide a link to an official website to which they link, an official email address, or a government-issued identification form. Musk might not require authentication, but require users to use their real names. It could also explore other methods, such as linking credit card accounts or relying more on CAPTCHA to beat bots, said Jillian York, director of international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights group. (CAPTCHAs are not a cure-all; however, as bots become more sophisticated, CAPTCHAs have become increasingly difficult for humans to solve in what could be described as a technological arms race.) Whichever method he chooses, York and other experts say Musk is likely to face challenges that fall into two main categories: access and privacy.
Access is about ensuring that all people who want to use Twitter can access the platform. With a system that links credit card accounts, for example, York said Twitter would risk blocking anyone who did not. Maybe they are too young to have a credit card or have bad credit and can not get approval. They may not like to trade their credit card transactions with data brokers, or they may simply prefer to use cash for cultural reasons. Linking authentication to consumer credit will “exclude millions of people,” York said.
Then there is the issue of privacy. While many users may feel they have nothing to hide, a system that forces users to submit their personal information creates a single point of failure. Not only would more users have to trust Twitter to avoid abusing their personal information, but Twitter itself would become a much bigger target for repressive governments (who could use legal requirements to force Twitter to release the information). ) or cybercriminals motivated by identity theft. Cybercriminals have reportedly been portrayed as real law enforcement agents to serve fraudulent government requests for technology company data. Twitter could have promised to delete the files, but it would only mitigate the risk it posed to itself.
The issue of privacy is of particular concern to human rights groups, said Natalia Krapiva, a lawyer with the Access Now digital rights group. events such as demonstrations, corruption or war in Ukraine. ” Even a policy on real names could prove to be a challenge. Facebook has some experience with this. The company was forced to make changes to its name policy in 2015 after critics pointed out that victims of abuse and other vulnerable groups had good reason to use nicknames. The changes to Facebook raised the bar for reporting a fake name and allowed users to provide reasons to the company for refusing to use their real names. This shows how complicated it can be to translate a simple principle, such as “verifying the identity of all real people,” into a functional product feature. The issue is not the goal or the motivation. It’s that humans are complex creatures with personal circumstances that rarely fit neatly into boxes.
After years of trial and error, technology platforms have already developed important lessons in authenticating users that could benefit Musk, York said.
“If he just means things like CAPTCHA, I think he’s in for a surprise,” York said. “He talked a lot about how to get rid of bots, but Twitter has been trying to do it for years and I think he will soon realize that it is not easy to solve the problem.”