Legit? Check

The internet in all its vastness, with its more than five billion users, can sometimes be a place filled with noise. An overwhelming amount of information from a near-infinite number of sources. Happily, there are systems in place which give us clues as to which sources are more reliable, and which accounts on social media are in fact who they say they are. How does one, then, use these tools to verify the source of any given post, tweet or article? What methods do sites and services use to make sure there isn’t impersonation of famous figures or trusted outlets? Can we really trust anything we read online?

Identity verification’s a tricky thing in general. If it wasn’t, identity fraud wouldn’t be nearly as prevalent as it is. Measures like biometrics and better authentication mediums are making progress, but it’s still quite difficult to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, especially if you’ve never met a person prior, that someone is who they claim to be. This really becomes an issue when it comes to verifying a person or thing which handles sensitive information over the internet. If you’re trying to log on to, let’s say, your bank account online. It’s very easy for someone to create a website which looks just like your online banking portal.

Happily, technology has already considered and duly tackled this shortcoming. Methods such as digital certificates and encryption make it quite difficult to meaningfully impersonate websites handling sensitive data. It does happen, but typically breaches only occur when multiple warnings or “red flags” are ignored. How about something slightly less scary, then? Let’s say you’ve a favorite public figure you’d like to follow on Twitter. You search for their name and 50 results show up, each with a slightly different handle. Which one is the real Joe Rogan or Larry the Cable Guy or Big Bird?

Social media outlets, now we’re so deep into the age of tweets and posts, have the process for this more or less worked out. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter; all of the larger social companies allow you to become “Verified” as a status. This will, in order to make it easy for the general consumer to ascertain where any given post is coming from, be shown on the verified user’s account as a check mark or badge. Typically you can interact with this badge, and it will tell you a little about the process. Before these processes existed, back when social media was still a new thing, people would simply race to get the most legitimate sounding usernames and handles. This is where we get accounts named like “The_Real_Famous_Person” or “@OfficialCelebrity.”

Of course this isn’t totally infallible. Scams do occur where people posing as A-list celebrities and public figures use a platform to gain money, notoriety or attention. Rightly or wrongly, we do associate fame with some degree of trustworthiness. The tools which we are given, such as account verification, should be part of a greater due diligence practice in which common sense is at the forefront. Let’s not get blinded by something which folds at only a small amount of scrutiny. As Ronald Regan once said “Trust, but verify.” Well, it was either Regan, or someone posing as him on Twitter, I think.