Social Media KYC: Big shock for Facebook, Instagram and X users, now social media will not work without identity card.

News India Live, Digital Desk: The Government of India is going to take a historic step to make the digital world safe and curb fake news. According to sources in the Ministry of Information Technology (IT), KYC (Know Your Customer) may soon be made mandatory for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). This simply means that now you will have to verify with a government identity card like Aadhar Card, PAN Card or Voter ID to operate your social media account. Why is ‘KYC’ of social media necessary? In the recent past, there has been a huge increase in deepfakes, online fraud and hate posts through anonymous accounts. The government believes that criminals escape by taking advantage of ‘anonymity’. Control on fake news: After ID verification, the identity of every user will be ensured, which will make it easier to catch those spreading misleading news. Reduction in cyber crime: This rule can prove to be a game-changer in stopping incidents like financial fraud and honeytrapping. Ease of account recovery: Government ID will help genuine users to get their hacked accounts back. How will this new verification system work? According to the proposed rules, social media companies will have to provide a ‘verification window’ on their platforms. Document upload: The user will have to upload his government identity card. AI based matching: The platform’s AI technology will match the ID photo and profile photo. Verified Badge: After successful verification, a special ‘Trusted’ or ‘Verified’ tag can appear on the user’s profile. The government can also clarify that the reach of the accounts which are not verified will be reduced or they will not be able to use certain features. Questions are being raised on privacy and data security. Privacy advocates have expressed concern over this decision of the government. Experts say that social media companies having Aadhaar or other personal data of crores of Indians can be risky. In case of data leak, this information may fall into the wrong hands. However, the government says that under the Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), companies will have to follow strict rules to keep this data safe. India is a huge market for Meta and Elon Musk’s company ‘X’. After the implementation of the new rules, these companies will have to make major changes in their architecture. If sources are to be believed, the government has started preliminary discussions with companies in this regard and its draft can be made public soon.