It looks like in the future, we’re gonna verify our identities. Social media for the masses will be done with Identity verification. That’ll be the way to tell bots and people apart, stripping anonymity in the process.
Word that Mastodon is talking of age verification, we will definitely see instances adopt it. All is pointless if federating with an instance without age verification, and that makes me wonder if the Fediverse might split apart under that pressure.
It’s pure speculation, but we might see a verification tag, for those who did verify their identity, and those without are left without any tag, same as bot accounts. If the majority of people do eventually verify, that’ll cast doubt onto accounts who lack the tag. Instances could also go full whitelist mode, and all of those instances force you to verify to join. If that is to be the case, we either verify to talk to people, or we don’t and face the overwhelming bots.
But what do you think, how will the Fediverse navigate a dying internet?
I have no desire to attach my social media activities to my IRL identity. I’ve seen people attacked and get fired for having strong political beliefs. I myself will not visit businesses whose owners have been vocally supportive of certain viewpoints. So I will not participate anywhere that requires verifiable identity, and I think it will be stifling to the point of losing any value. Plus, I’ll be honest, I’ve been around long enough that I’ve given voice to thoughts that were immature or ignorant or enraged and I’m damn glad I don’t have to defend myself on a daily basis and even happier that they aren’t associated with my IRL identity.
There are ways to establish an identity without personally identifying information, such as how Mastodon verifies that you have control over a domain. That’s as far as I’m willing to go.