Social media is a great source of information for millions of people. Not everything one reads on the internet is true, though. Over the past few months, we have seen an influx of “fake” verified Twitter accounts related to cryptocurrency. This trend is quickly growing into a major problem.
Verified Twitter Account Means Nothing
It is difficult to discern truth from lies on the internet. People get a lot craftier to package half-truths as legitimate information. This is especially true when it comes to social media, where everyone can express their opinion freely. To ensure people do not follow fake or potentially scammy accounts, Twitter introduced a new feature a while ago. Known as their Verified Service, account holders can go through a process to establish more legitimacy for their account.
However, there are some concerns over these “verified” accounts. The blue check-mark associated with this service is not the badge of credibility people want it to be. It is increasingly easy for any account to get verified on Twitter as of right now. The recent Tron Foundation debacle shows how easy it is to impersonate the real account and get verified while doing so. While the account has now been deleted, it raises a lot of questions regarding Twitter’s overall policy.
Authenticity on any social media platform is a pipe dream at this point. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledges the problem affecting his company and the team is working on countermeasures. Even so, the damage has already been done in this regard. Problems like these are not just limited to Twitter either. Instagram has run into similar problems in recent months. For now, Twitter’s verification procedure has been put on hold. This is not just the result of dealing with fake cryptocurrency accounts either.
Growing List of Problems
It is safe to say Twitter’s problems are much bigger than verifying cryptocurrency accounts. When they verified a white supremacist last year, things really got out of hand. For now, we have to wait and see what the next system will hold in this regard. A new procedure will need to be implemented sooner or later. No one knows what this new method will entail exactly, though.
Apparently somehow this fake acct got verified by @Twitter @TwitterSupport Seems like Twitter doesn’t care except the amount of growing fake users. @justinsuntron @Tronfoundation #trx #tron $trx #scam #fraud #FakeAccount @SupraMan1989 @Dr_strange1 @DigitalLawrence @Brad2pointO pic.twitter.com/FrxZmv0xlc
— Cr¥p7RoN_Kn¥ghT (@CrYp7RoN_KnYghT) February 23, 2018
For cryptocurrency users, this problem is pretty significant. Any verified account associated with cryptocurrencies still needs to be scrutinized. We have seen fake accounts affecting project including OmiseGO, TRON, and a few others. Crypto pundit John McAfee has been pretty vocal about these potential scams. Warning users is the only course of action in this regard. Unfortunately, anyone’s Twitter account can also be hacked. Any information on this and other social networks needs to be taken with a large grain of salt.
Distinguishing between fake and real accounts is pretty much impossible as of right now. These issues will continue to plague the cryptocurrency industry for some time to come. It doesn’t take much to create a “clone” account of the real project and try to scam users. Until Twitter takes a more aggressive stance in this regard, avoiding the platform may be the best solution altogether. Using common sense is also an option, as most of these duplicitous efforts are easy to spot.