Inspired by the question an hour ago about how you would launch a privacy first social media. How would you go about launching a social media platform where the emphasis is on verifying users identities to confirm they're not bots.

In my view it seems like social media nowadays is being overrun by bots spamming crypto, onlyfans, or just straight up misinformation. I feel like there will be a growing number of people who are disenchanted by the growing number of these bots on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, etc. that could be convinced in using a site where there is verification of users as real people as part of sign-up. Additionally, I would assume advertisers aren't fans of potentially paying more money than they need to when the views on their sponsors or ads wouldn't be real people.

My specific questions would be:

1. Is there even a sizeable enough market that people would go through a more complex sign-up process to gain access to the platform

2. What would be the safest and fastest way of doing personal verification that can't be easily bypassed by bots and wouldn't leak PII from users?

3. How would you go about marketing a platform that would be targeting this specific niche?

Also, if there are any platforms out there that specifically target getting rid of bots please let me know.

  • sfmz 7 hours ago |
    iirc, some sites charge your credit card a token amount to verify you aren't a bot, but this is US-centric.
  • PaulHoule 7 hours ago |
    See how dating sites, particularly the kinky fringe (e.g. fetlife) do it.

    You can get people to take pictures of themselves, for instance, holding a piece of paper with a number that you told them just a moment ago.

  • ffsoftboiled 7 hours ago |
    1. If rolled out right, you select a few influencers and taste makersn generate buzz and then release.

    2. Retina scanning.

    3. The Human Network.

  • verdverm 5 hours ago |
    > social media nowadays is being overrun by bots spamming crypto, onlyfans, or just straight up misinformation

    There are other ways to combat this problem than having verified users (which I'm not opposed to, but don't think most people will opt into when joining a twitter / facebook alternative)

    One such alternative is making moderation user controlled like Bluesky has with ATProto. Each user has choice in what moderation service(s) they subscribe to, and anyone can run a moderation service. Also the same for algo feeds

    The way to evolve social media is to lower the barrier to migration, making real competition possible. This is what I see in ATProto