There are many reasons to beware of fake social media accounts, apart from the distinctly human one of not wanting to be made a fool. Of course, it is precisely this merging of the human and the digital which makes social media so successful; and also why it is so vital to take the time to make sure that the icon or avatar matches reality.

Vital because fake social media accounts have been held responsible for everything from bad dates to rigged elections.

Individual and mass faking

On an individual level, being fooled by a fake social media user feels, unsurprisingly, personal. This is, of course, very rarely true; the individual is not targeted specifically, he or she just happens to fall for the bait. This is most often the case on dating sites, where people (perhaps naturally) pretend to be things they are not. Sadly, where underage users are involved, this can lead to unwitting criminal acts.

On the mass level, fake news and opinions are often not spread by people at all, but by bots. These are the result of a scamming programme which generates them by the million, each one slightly different, and they then generate their own online identities. By sheer weight of numbers, these bots create opinions, and influence real people in the real world.

Prevention is better than cure

Two important ways of avoiding the hazards of fake social media accounts are age and identity verification. This is because it is often under/overage users who are the cause of malicious actions, or fraudsters who pretend to be a person other than who they actually are.

There is currently a hard focus on avoiding the creation of fake social media accounts by both of these routes, and hence a rapid development of ID verification technology. In the case of the fake individual account, personal pain and / or financial loss can be avoided; on the larger scale, good verification should be able to identify a bot, and replicate this verification every time, however large the numbers.

This takes the onus away from the potential ‘dupe’, be that the customer, date or voter; as such, age and ID verification are much safer options.

Advances in recognition technology

Biometrics are playing a bigger part in verification processes than ever before. This can mean something as simple as taking a selfie to corroborate the photo on an official ID card; facial recognition is, after all, the oldest form of biometric check.

The latest facial recognition technology maps out a user’s face, and from this uses algorithms to predict that user’s probable age. As people’s faces develop at a certain rate, this makes it much harder to pretend to be older or younger than you actually are.

Liveness is another useful tool in detecting fake account creators. By showing an icon which must be clicked within a certain time, for instance, verification programs can weed out bots.

As social media continues to spread its influence on the world, it is to be hoped that any and all fake detection software proves successful.