Facebook plans to start verifying the identity of individual accounts that regularly go viral on the platform.
In a blog post published yesterday, the social media giant said this would “ensure the content you see on Facebook is authentic and comes from real people” and not robots or people trying to conceal their identity. Verification will also ensure accountability.
“We want people to feel confident that they understand who’s behind the content they’re seeing on Facebook, and this is particularly important when it comes to content that’s reaching a lot of people,” wrote Anita Joseph, and Michele Paselli, Product Managers at Facebook.
The company says that users who will choose not to verify their accounts will have the distribution of their viral post cut down. The same fate will also apply to those who provide the wrong information that doesn’t match the linked Facebook account.
Those who post as Page admins will also have to verify their pages by completing the Page Publishing Authorization and will not be able to post until their pages have been verified.
Facebook started its verification process back in 2018, where they made it mandatory to verify the identity of people behind Pages with large audiences. This process will first start in the US. It is, however, not said that it will extend to other parts of the world.
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.
