ID verification trending for social media, Intellicheck lands 2nd major US client

A major social media platform has selected Intellicheck to provide digital identity verification. The New York-based firm, which specializes in document checks, has not yet revealed the name of their client. But a release specifies that it is “an American multinational company operating one of the largest social media platforms in the world.”

Given that description, the candidates are limited; observers can expect to hear a name like Meta, Reddit or Alphabet join Intellicheck’s client list, which also includes business and organizations in finance, automotive, insurance and law enforcement, among others. It marks the second global social media platform Intellicheck has partnered with.

“In the age of social media, you need to know who is on the other side of a social media post, so you know if it is real or propaganda,” says Intellicheck CEO Bryan Lewis, highlighting one of the major challenges with authenticating people in a bot-infested online environment. “We believe that being chosen by this social media platform to verify identities to protect against impersonators, and to protect their users from having their social media accounts hijacked underscores the unsurpassed speed and accuracy of Intellicheck’s proven identity verification technology.”

Biometrics is trending, but rights groups downvote data collection

Biometrics have Silicon Valley abuzz, following the recent announcement by X (formerly Twitter) that its new privacy policy allows it to collect users’ biometric data and access encrypted messages. There is increasing momentum for biometrics in the sector, as more platforms look for ways to enhance user security, stamp out identity fraud and combat emerging threats such as deepfakes.

In addition to Au10tix matching user biometrics for X, Clear is providing identity verification for LinkedIn, and age verification is being mandated in various jurisdictions for social media accounts.

According to Guy Bauman, who co-founded the security and privacy app, IronVest, biometrics present real opportunities for innovation, but success depends on where user data ends up, how it is stored, and whether users trust platforms to be conscientious stewards of their data. He points to decentralized biometrics, which breaks a digital ID template into separately encrypted shards, as the standard people should demand from companies.

“Biometrics is a really effective way to make sure accounts and personal data can’t be accessed by unauthorized users,” said Bauman in a release. “Yet, it doesn’t get any more personal than biometric data, so users need to be highly aware of how these social media giants are storing their most sensitive information.”

Digital advocacy groups agree. In a blog post, the director of Amnesty International’s Silicon Valley Initiative, Michael Kleinman, says there is a real risk that X’s new policy violates users’ right to privacy.

“The new policy does not clearly spell out how that data will be stored and the safety measures in place to ensure that the information collected will not be used for unlawful purposes,” says Kleinman. “With over 500 million users, such a system-wide collection of extremely sensitive data poses huge security and privacy risks. Even more concerning is the provision that X will collect information about the location of users and their private messages, which may constitute mass surveillance.” Kleinman also points out that users’ information will be fed to X’s large language models and other AI tools, for algorithm training.

“X claims to be a platform that promotes freedom of expression,” he says, perhaps referencing some of its owner’s more bombastic statements. “But its carte blanche approach to profit-making poses a serious risk to individual rights.”

Article Topics

AU10TIX  |  biometrics  |  document verification  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  Intellicheck  |  IronVest  |  social media