Indian microblogging site Ku on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, announced “voluntary self-verification” for users on its platform, in which users can self-verify their accounts with government-approved ID cards.
The platform, which competes with Twitter, said the move empowers users to prove the authenticity of their accounts on the platform, therefore lending credibility to the views and opinions shared by them.
“Voluntary self-verification promotes the visibility of real voices. A visible marker in the form of a green tick will identify an account as being self-verified,” it added.
The move comes amid the ongoing debate on whether user verification should be done on social media platforms to prevent their misuse and ensure accountability. The issue was also raised during the ongoing budget session of Parliament as a means of preventing user harm and the spread of fake news. During the session, Minister of State for Information Technology Rajiv Chandrashekhar had said that your government is interested in balancing the interests of security and trust along with issues of privacy, and that “mandatory verification” of social media platforms falls at the crossroads of both. Is. ,
Currently, there is no law or regulation that allows mandatory verification of users using social media platforms.
For voluntary verification, Ku said users will have to enter their government ID number and one time password (OTP). On successful authentication, they get self-verified with a green tick in their profile.
The forum said: “The verification process is carried out by third-parties authorized by the government. Ku will not store any information during the process. Apart from empowering users on the platform, voluntary self-verification – by promoting authenticity – is also expected to curb online misinformation, hate speech, abuse and bullying.”
“We are extremely proud to be the first social media platform in the world to launch a voluntary self-verification system. Users can self-verify in less than 30 seconds through our safe and secure verification process,” said Apramaya Radhakrishna, Co-Founder and CEO, Ku.