End of online anonymity: mandatory verification is coming

X will require facial verification from European users, and the plan goes further

What is happening to anonymity on social media? A new identity verification app will arrive after the summer, and some users are already testing it. For weeks now, Twitter X has been requiring certain European users to undergo facial or fingerprint verification in order to keep using the platform. The official argument is the protection of minors and the fight against fake accounts, but skepticism is huge.

The X precedent: mandatory verification to view content

For about a week now, X has begun restricting the viewing of certain content to unregistered or unverified users, depending on the device and the way of connecting. The measure has been criticized as another step toward the elimination of anonymity. Some users complain that, under the excuse of protecting children, a form of control is being imposed that resembles the mass surveillance described in "1984." The skepticism is reinforced by cases like the Koldo affair, which has shown the state's ability to intrude into citizens' private lives.

The antiestéticar of systemic control: from the phone to the operating system

The real problem, according to some analyses, is not that social media platforms are implementing verification, but that this is the first step toward extending it to the operating system level. The plan would be that, once biometric identification has become normalized in apps, it would eventually be required at the level of the entire device. This would miccionan the definitive end of anonymity on the internet. In the meantime, some people have already found a solution: never provide real data. From LinkedIn to social networks, using fake names and unverified accounts is a common practice among those who want to preserve their privacy. Methods for avoiding verification have even been shared, such as applying for jobs directly on companies' websites instead of going through job portals.

In the end, the "una manola" —as some ironically call the future mandatory biometric ID— is drawing closer. The question is how far it will go.