User Uniqueness and How To Stop Twitter Bots

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Twitter is no stranger to bots. Neither is Instagram, or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Reddit.

In CT (Crypto Twitter) a tweet containing any of the following words will be victim to bots attempting to scam you: Metamask, Wallet, Trust, Coinbase, Keys.

No one has yet to come up with a convincing solution to this issue. Twitter tried to remove their API to combat this, but the community uproar made them reverse their decision.

User Uniqueness could be the solution to all of our problems.

User Uniqueness and Biometrics

We are all unique and we all have our own identity. When we interact with the internet, we do so with an alias; a username, an email, or a string of numbers.

But, one person can have many aliases. Anyone can make 10 email accounts which they use to create 10 Twitter accounts, which are used to harass other users of the platform.

The issue lies when it becomes difficult to identify who the sole perpetrator of these 10 accounts are. Generally, they lead to a dummy email with no ties to a real person, and that’s where the trail goes cold.

Nothing is stopping that person from doing it all again the next day.

However, there is one thing we can’t change, and that’s who we are, more specifically biometrics (e.g., fingerprints, irises).

One company, Vendible Labs who are looking to solve this exact problem. They want to create a system where a user’s alias to a platform is connected to the user’s biometric identity.

This way, a user can create many accounts, but if they get banned, the ban will be placed against the biometric identity (represented as a UID) rather than the account. This can prevent offending users from creating more accounts and repeating their actions.

How it works

Vendible have created a product called Trustible, it is a key-management tool which leverages biometrics, zero-knowledge proofs, and blockchains to store your data in a way which is accessible anytime, and does not expose your information to anyone but yourself.

When a user registers with their biometrics, it generates a UID which is now associated with your identity. Through the platform, the user can generate (primarily) blockchain wallets, and also store pieces of information (e.g., Name, Date of Birth).

If Twitter had an sign-up process using Vendible, scanning your fingerprint would give your UID to Twitter, and then you will be prompted to make an account.

Using this method, a user may create 2 accounts, one for personal use, and one for a 'good’ bot which posts news updates. These accounts are two instances of the same UID. The only limit would be a limit that Twitter would impose on the number of accounts per UID.

If the same user created a third account with a ‘bad’ bot (a third instance of the same UID), and it was banned by Twitter. Twitter has 2 options, to ban the account (which is what currently happens). Or, they can ban the UID from creating new accounts, this prevents the user from offending again.

This raises questions such as:

• Should the ban be permanent?

• How long should the ban last?

• Can the user appeal a ban?

But that is a different can of worms.

Where Vendible could be used

Social Media

Above we described a scenario where a user can create malicious accounts associated with their UID. And once the account is banned by Twitter, they can permanently prevent that UID from creating more accounts.

This also works with rise of online bullying and trolling where user’s use anonymous accounts to abuse others. A UID connecting these anonymous accounts to a real user can prevent this from going further.

Video Games

All multiplayer games have a botting problem, Runescape, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, bots ruin the experience for all players.

With Vendible a user’s account would be linked to their UID, and the number of accounts could be limited by the game developers. Further, if an account is banned for botting, all accounts associated with the UID can be banned.

Further Reading

I have spoke extensively with Doug (Founder and CEO of Vendible), and other members of their team about their products, you can watch it here.

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