My Experience of the Sunset of Social Media

The best articles come when we share our personal stories and experiences. I want to share my personal experience with Instagram and its "support" if it is a good term for the service I received. It is a small point that fulfills a broader picture of what has been happening with social media in recent years.

Sunset of Social Media

Social media platforms have been declining for years, depending on whom you ask and which platform you prefer. It's difficult to generalize about social media's fate because there are so many different companies. One estimate shows that there are over 100 active social media services today. Even more significant, Forbes reports that there are 4.9 billion social media users globally (i.e., about 62% of the population) as of 2023.

Since 2021, Twitter has seen an exodus of users, advertisers pulling back, and even the end of its famous bird logo.?Facebook's strategic effort to diversify into the metaverse has failed. As a result, Facebook has reverted to launching Threads, a platform widely seen as a Twitter clone.

Meanwhile, government bodies are becoming increasingly aggressive in responding to online services, including social media platforms. From my perspective, this is too late but better than never.

My Digital Existence

Political, marketing, and other bots nowadays live in a digital paradise. Their actions are unrestricted. No regulation requires the digital onboarding process for social media to require you to verify your e-mail address and take a selfie with your passport or ID, confirming that you are a natural person. I hope that the reason for this gap is about something other than business.

I remind all readers that I can open a new profile on any social media platform using the identity I want, copying photos and content from any of you at any moment I want. It becomes almost impossible to report Digital Identity Theft. I challenge you to stop me.

My motivation is to jump into the discussion simply: Freedom and Anarchy are different things. Accountability is a principle applied to both the real physical and digital worlds.

I am pretty sure that extreme liberals and anarchists will come to criticize this hypothesis, talking about the importance of anonymity and privacy protection. Still, since we don't live under masks in the physical world, the damage of spam, scams, bots, and other violence and risks in the digital world significantly overcomes all potential benefits. Damages that come from the unregulated space of social media kill freedom slowly and push people away from social media.

Instagram Artificial "Intelligence" or Blue Check Verification to Pay

I woke up this morning and received a message from Instagram that my report of the fake account had been rejected for the second time in two weeks. Somebody took a screenshot of my photos and created fake accounts. It is nothing new on social media, but the reaction from Instagram is. This was the turning point that led me to write this article. I have wanted to write about the season of spreading fake news in COVID-19 times until now, supporting conspiracy theories, and, in the end, where there is a balance between free speech and accountability for public opinion. In ages when the world is rapidly changing, there is a thing to remember: Freedom will survive only if it comes together with accountability.

I am unsure how Instagram does report checks, using Artificial Intelligence or manually by staff, but it becomes evident that there is not too much "intelligence" in the procedure. I have reported two fake accounts using my identity twice in the last three weeks, and all reports have been rejected. Instagram responded that the Reported account does not go against our Community Guidelines on impersonation.

Besides the fact that anybody can open a fake account without presenting any identification for digital onboarding, the much worse thing is that we can do little to protect our digital existence. Social media is dying, but it is clear that they actually contribute to that process, supporting our loss of trust in platforms.

Impersonation is not the Worst

It is not the worst thing I have suffered from this bad experience of lacking Instagram's support on the impersonation issue. As there is no identification and verification procedure for account registration, global digital users of social media and other platforms are in danger of more sophisticated spam, scams, and impersonation tactics. This is going to be worse since AI tools become more powerful. Dear Facebook, the label Created by AI is not enough, but thank you for considering the problem at least.

Being unable to identify who is behind accounts on various platforms, beginning from e-mail registration to profile registration on social media is definitely an issue. Children open accounts on many sites, and there is only one barrier - to click on a simple question: Enter if you are older than 12/13/16/18. Really? I was hoping you could find me a kid who clicks: I am under age verification, leaving the prohibited platforms and services. I want to find one. That is the first reason that some social media have become a paradise for pedophilia and dangerous challenges on TikTok that caused many cases of injuries or even deaths. Social media platforms formally have a Term of Use that defines rules, but in praxis, it doesn't work at all. No proper government regulatory actions will force the implementation of regulations that exist on "paper."

I NEVER Pay for the Blue Check Verification

This case is not isolated, and I can't believe that such a potent platform as Instagram cannot compare real and fake accounts that use the same photos - even automatically. There is also a technical option to prevent screenshots - if you don't know how to do so, visit the Telegram chat platform. While AI tools already surround us, it seems a little probable to me. I don't want to be rude, but I have many reasons to doubt that Instagram is trying to force me to pay for the Blue Check Verification. I want to use this opportunity to send the clear message that I NEVER pay for something that should be free and an integral part of the registration process. Digital Onboarding, including identification and verification, exists in the Banking sector and for Government services, even if you want to sign a contract with your telco operator. In most countries, you can only buy a SIM card with a mobile phone number if you show your ID.

I challenge all readers to share their ideas and vision, but don't tell me that regulation is not necessary—anarchy is not freedom, and anonymity is not a human Right. Many EU countries limit face covering and masking in public spaces, even if the reason is religious rules. When we start walking around in the physical world with masks, you can convince me that the digital world on the Internet should be founded that way.

Ultimately, I appeal to all of you to report those accounts and share your experiences. The best regulation is self-regulation, which supports each other in saving our rights on social media and the Internet.