LinkedIn investments in IDV begin generating trust dividend

LinkedIn now has 55 million verified users and has verified more identities than any other social media network, the company says. The Microsoft-owned platform wants to reach 100 million verified users by 2025 and believes it will achieve this goal thanks to its “sizable investment” into free identity verification.

The company launched its verification drive in April 2023, relying on a two-pronged approach. Users working at large firms can be verified through their corporate emails. The second verification method involves checks of government IDs and face biometrics by providers such as U.S.-based Clear and Persona or India’s DigiLocker, which relies on the Aadhaar digital ID system. LinkedIn declined to share the price it pays for these verifications.

The main reason behind the push towards identity verification is the threat of deepfakes, Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn’s vice president of trust and safety, said in a recent interview with CNBC.

“That line-blurring is what we believe poses a significant challenge in combating things like misinformation, faking expertise and so forth,” says Rodriguez. “Being able to understand the authenticity of someone will be essentially critical to how we see the internet progress in the future.”

The current number of verified users is still small compared to LinkedIn’s 1 billion user base. But with identity verification now available in at least 100 countries, it is progressing faster than Meta and X.

Meta launched Meta Verified last year, allowing creators and businesses on  Facebook and Instagram to add verification badges to their profiles after authenticating their identity with a government ID or an official certificate. Last week, however, the social media giant announced it would test video selfies as a way for users to biometrically verify their identity in case of losing access to their accounts, such as forgetting passwords or smartphones.

The platform formerly known as Twitter has also paired up with selfie biometrics provider Au10tix to offer account verification based on government IDs to prevent impersonation.

However, just like Meta, LinkedIn is still dealing with data privacy lawsuits.

Last week, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) delivered a 310 million euros (US$355.5 million) fine to LinkedIn after ruling that the company broke GDPR rules. The Irish data watchdog examined the platform’s processing of personal data for behavioral analysis and targeted advertising.

The case was handed over to Ireland by the French Data Protection Authority after a complaint filed by the French non-profit organization La Quadrature Du Net in 2018.

Article Topics

digital identity  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  LinkedIn  |  selfie biometrics  |  social media