Digital fraud is a huge problem in social media. Every day, scammers create new accounts impersonating popular content creators and attempt to trick unsuspecting fans and other victims into sending them money. To solve the problem, some have turned to blockchain in an attempt to create and implement a decentralized social identity verification system.
At the recent World Token Summit 2023, Cointelegraph spoke with Matthias Mende, co-founder of the Dubai Blockchain Center and speaker at the event. During his speech, Mende talked about one of the center’s projects implementing blockchain technology to create a decentralized social identity for its users.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Mende shared that identity fraud has been a constant problem in the space. According to the executive, he has personally encountered many scammers taking content he posted on social media and creating fraudulent accounts impersonating him. He explained:
“I have about 200,000 followers on Instagram, and really, like every day, a new fake profile comes out. I always find messages from people asking, ‘Hey, Mende, is that you?’ And they even send videos because they save them from the IG (Instagram) story. For example, scammers take it to the next level.”
The executive said while it’s unfortunate, the reality is that there are a lot of people who want to hurt others. “We need tools to prevent this,” he said. Due to these issues, Mende started a project that will use blockchain to verify the legitimacy of social media accounts.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the government has introduced an app called “UAE Pass”, which is linked to people’s national identity card called Emirates ID. This allows people to use their smartphone to verify their identity with service providers through smartphone-based authentication.
Inspired by this concept, Mende shared that the center has created a project called Bonuz that will work in a similar way. Using blockchain, he is working on a platform that will provide blockchain-based authentication to people’s social media networks.
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According to Mende, he believes blockchain has the ability to solve the problem of digital identity fraud:
“I believe it will be a lot resolved. For what? Because user don’t just link their Instagram or main account like their account on Web2 now. He actually binds an identity where all his real social networks are linked.
The executive also shared that when there is a decentralized social identity, there can be proof of identity in the blockchain, and people can be 100% sure that the accounts they are interacting with are the person. they claim to be and not a fraud.
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