Social networks, aiming to make their environments more reliable, started to check the accounts of celebrities, journalists and politicians with a blue seal. Thus, eventual parodies and fakes profiles encountered a barrier when trying to impersonate these public people.
It turns out, at least on Twitter, that doesn’t seem to mean much.
A user of the social network created a fictional profile of a candidate for the US presidential race that will take place in 2020. He used a photo-generated by artificial intelligence, created a description, and submitted an equally false form to the website Ballotpedia, which has a partnership with the social network to check the candidates.
It turns out that “Andrew Walz” never existed, and as simple as filling out the form on Ballotpedia, he was earning the blue seal on Twitter.
This is ironic to say the least since the social network has strict standards for verifying users. There was a time when submissions could be submitted by anyone, but of course, there was an analysis of the forms sent. After very high demand, Twitter resumed its traditional method of verifying accounts from partners or its own analysis.
The account had only 10 followers and has already been banned from the platform. Twitter and Ballotpedia have reported that they will make the verification process more rigorous.
This may seem like a simple and isolated case, but in electoral times, party forces try to use the internet as much to their advantage. Gaps that allow you to check for fake accounts, especially with the intention of spreading fake news, would be extremely effective.
Remember that Twitter has already sent a clear signal that it intends to take a closer look at the platform during election periods. It remains to be seen whether the social network will actually be able to do this.
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Source: Engadget
