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Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

propublica.org

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Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#11

Post by danso »

jtbayly wrote: post #4
Kaotique wrote: post #2

What I don't understand is why Meta/Facebook thinks you are only a real person if you are a musician. You cannot just upload a picture of your passport and a couple of bank statements. You know, the way any other company verifies the identity of a person?

Yes. But even assuming a desire to limit verification to notable people, it seems very odd that minor musicians are allowed but not minor actors.

I would have to guess the infrastructure/digital bureaucracy of Spotify provides a scalable verification method in a way that doesn't exist for minor actors. Having a Spotify artist account at least implies you have an identity with connected financial credentials (i.e. to receive streaming revenues).

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#12

Post by photochemsyn »

This looks like a bit similar to various 'vanity publishing' operations in the writing world. These varied quite a bit, there was an era (pre-Internet) when it wasn't uncommon for the up-and-coming corporate executive to hire a writer and publisher to write a glamorous biography and print a few thousand copies, to be handed out to whoever would take them. I suppose today that approach could plausibly provide a 'source reference' to base a Wikipedia page on (See! See! Someone wrote a Book about Me!). I suppose this is relatively harmless, if a bit ridiculous.

However, another side of the vanity publishing world is pretty scammy, basically promising writers and musicians and artists (generally ones with little commercial promise) 'a chance at success' by taking their money and doing things like this.

https://selfpublishingadvice.org/what-is-vanity-publishing/

> "A reputable company empowers clients with the information they need to choose the right service for their needs. That's in stark contrast to the deceitful and manipulative tactics used by vanity presses, where the goal is to sell the authors as many services as possible."

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#13

Post by gilleain »

danso wrote: post #7
colpabar wrote: post #3

I struggle to understand why verification on social media platforms involves anything more than taking a picture of yourself touching your nose with your left hand or whatever. The point should be to prove that the account is actually you, right? How did it end up being some kind of badge of honor?

It's in a social media company's best interest for its user base to easily find and distinguish between Matt Smith the famous actor and the thousands of other Matt Smiths, especially the ones who might try to fake being the famous Matt Smith for shits and giggles and/or profit. "Verification" is definitely the wrong term for it, but if companies could come up with a different verb that didn't make even more obvious t…

However, doesn't this "IsFamous" label break down when multiple famous people share a name. No obvious example spring to mind, but it surely must happen...

Seems like it would be more useful to have some kind of more general labelling system, where you could be 'verified' as (say) a famous actor, and/or musician, or whatever. Then people could distinguish not only the famous Matt Smith from the unfamous, but also the painter Matt Smith, and so on.

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#14

Post by gabereiser »

_fat_santa wrote: post #6

> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…

That's the real heart of the issue. It was never a verification badge. It was always a popularity badge. Social media is garbage. We need to find a better way. Obviously having that many eye-balls means business opportunities for the gig-worker economy but this kind of restriction/status symbol is ripe for corruption and fraud by design.

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#15

Post by bombcar »

photochemsyn wrote: post #12

This looks like a bit similar to various 'vanity publishing' operations in the writing world. These varied quite a bit, there was an era (pre-Internet) when it wasn't uncommon for the up-and-coming corporate executive to hire a writer and publisher to write a glamorous biography and print a few thousand copies, to be handed out to whoever would take them. I suppose today that approach could plausibly provide a 'sourc…

A similar thing exists in the music industry outside of Instagram, continually selling wannabe musicians "agent access" and "recording sessions" for $5-10k a pop and never actually doing anything.

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#16

Post by dncornholio »

The verified tag is just ridiculous. It should be for everyone or for nobody.

Man I was sigh-ing throughout this whole article..

They created a huge grave by adding the verified tag. People will and should exploit this. Blame the social media platform for this lousy, discriminating verified tag

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#17

Post by dncornholio »

_fat_santa wrote: post #6

> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…

The definition of famous is just too relative. The tag should be considered harmful. Social media platforms should not dictate who is famous or not.

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#18

Post by soco »

coastermug wrote: post #10
_fat_santa wrote: post #6

> Meta has so far removed fraudulently applied verification badges from more than 300 Instagram profiles It's not a "Verification Badge", it's a "Famous Person" badge. If you verify someone's identity, John Doe indeed controls the instagram account with his face and name, then I don't see how there could be anything fraudulent about it if it's just a "verification badge". The verification badge is supposed to show wh…

My partner runs a small brand, which attracted a copycat page clearly designed to scam users out of money for giveaways. She attempted to “get verified” and was denied because there was not enough news stories about the brand. We own the trademark to the brand name, and the verbatim copying of the copycat clearly infringes copyright. The only option we have is to file a trademark dispute through Instagram, but that i…

"I genuinely don’t understand why the Instagram platform is so permissive to clear scammers" - more traffic, apes together strong?

Re: Fake musicians: a million-dollar Instagram verification scheme

#19

Post by llacb47 »

adamgordonbell wrote: post #8

Wow, this article caused me to google myself and find that google has labeled me a music artist as well. I should start my own service since it seems maybe all you need to do is create a podcast, then google says you are a musician and presumably the verification process at Facebook follows google's lead.

Your song LISP in space is a classic!
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