CNN exposed Musk’s next move： real-name registration system may be implemented on Twitter.

(Observer News) Since the acquisition of Twitter with a total capital of US$ 44 billion on 25th, elon musk, the world’s richest man, has been attracting attention and speculation from all walks of life.

On February 28th, local time, US media CNN quoted anonymous sources as saying that Musk’s next plan for Twitter was to "verify all real people" and implement real-name registration system on Twitter. According to the report, Musk did this because his biggest dissatisfaction with the Twitter platform is that there are too many fake accounts, and some people even swindle under his name.

Report screenshot

According to CNN, the information given by this "mysterious source" is vague but specific enough.

In order to "verify all real people" and distinguish between real accounts and fake accounts, there are three main paths that Musk can operate: one is to require all users to change their nicknames to real names; Second, users can keep false nicknames, but they must upload photo identification; The third is to retrieve the identity information from the third-party platform under the authorization of the user.

According to the report, if Musk’s goal is to ensure that each account is bound to a real person with flesh and blood, then the Twitter platform will need to verify the authenticity of these accounts. One possibility is to extend Twitter’s existing authentication process. At present, if users want to get the official blue certification mark of Twitter, they must provide the official website link, official email address or government-issued identification. Musk can not ask users to provide these identities, but only ask them to use their real names.

Jillian York, director of international freedom of speech at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (hereinafter referred to as EFF), a digital rights organization, said that Musk could also explore other methods, such as binding Twitter accounts with credit cards, or relying more on verification codes to defeat fake robot accounts.

However, the verification code is not a panacea. As the artificial intelligence robot becomes more and more intelligent, it will become more and more difficult to distinguish the verification code between real dummies, and finally it will become difficult for even real people to pass the verification.

Musk

As for why Musk is obsessed with "authenticating" Twitter users, CNN reported that this is because his biggest dissatisfaction with Twitter platform is that there are too many junk accounts, especially those that engage in cryptocurrency fraud. Many of these accounts lurk in Musk’s comment area, using Musk’s fame to cheat, and even pretending to be him to seduce "unsuspecting people".

In the summer of 2020, Musk’s Twitter authentication account was attacked by a wave of hackers, which led to the unwitting spread of a bitcoin scam on the accounts of many celebrities, including former US President Barack Obama and "Kanye" Kanye Omari West.

Previously, Musk had tweeted that the cryptocurrency junk robot account was Twitter’s "most annoying problem."

Musk tweeted the fake account of the robot.

CNN said that if Musk really wants to implement real-name registration system on Twitter, the plan will have a significant impact on hundreds of millions of Twitter users. However, experts said that there are many challenges and difficulties for Musk to implement real-name registration system on Twitter, such as access and privacy.

Access means that Twitter should ensure that all people who want to use this platform can use it, but real-name registration system of Musk has raised the threshold. For example, York, head of EFF’s international freedom of speech, said that if Musk requires Twitter users’ accounts to be bound to credit cards, then those young users without credit cards or users with poor credit can’t use Twitter. York estimated that this move would "exclude millions of people from the Twitter platform".

Then there is the issue of privacy. Although many users may feel that they have nothing to hide, submitting personally identifiable information means that they have to believe that Twitter officials will not abuse their personal information. In addition, users will have new concerns, because Twitter will become the target of cyber criminal gangs who intend to steal identity information.

York said: "(Musk) He talked a lot about how to get rid of fake accounts of robots, but Twitter has been trying to do this for many years. I think he will soon realize that this is not an easy problem to solve. "