Government May Use Need To Curb ‘Fake News’ As Alibi To Force Social Media To Offer User Identification Mechanism

The proposed Personal Data Protection Bill is likely to make it mandatory for large social media platforms to offer what is being called a ‘voluntary’ mechanism to verify the identity of users, supposedly to control ‘fake news’.

The move is expected to potentially raise a host of technical and policy issues for companies including Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram units, besides Twitter and Chinese app TikTok.

As per the proposed Bill, social media companies would be be required to come up with a mechanism to identify users on their platform who are willing to be identified on ‘voluntary’ basis. At least at the moment, it is being claimed that it would be ‘voluntary’ for users if they wish to identify themselves or not.

The ‘voluntary’ user identification and verification mechanism would be similar to the blue check-mark that Twitter has used to confirm the authenticity of high-profile accounts, including those belonging to celebrities and politicians.

The identity verification requirement, introduced in the latest draft of the Bill, is being sold as an effort to battle disinformation, fake news and online trolling, which are carried out using pseudonymous or fake accounts.

However, companies like Facebook and others have resisted the idea to verify identity of their users, partly on the grounds that people in many countries may struggle to provide sufficient documentation.