Despite the deletion of each account, I was initially asked to set up a cryptocurrency wallet and create a “cloud mining pool” account before it happened. Knight and Marx have categorically denied ownership of the disputed accounts, revealing that they have been actively thwarting attempts to create impostor profiles in their names over a prolonged period.
They do not appear to be the only ones. Two prominent figures in the tech community, New York Times tech journalist and researcher Molly White, have fallen victim to an insidious scheme on Bluesky, with scammers likely exploiting their credibility to dupe unsuspecting users. According to Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Safety, Belief, and Security Initiative at Cornell Tech, an analysis of the top 500 Bluesky customers by follower count revealed that among the 305 accounts attributed to a named individual, a staggering 74 had at least one impersonation account.
The platform was compelled to rapidly adapt and accommodate a sudden influx of tens of millions of new users over the past few months, following Elon Musk’s acquisition of X, as individuals flocked to the alternative in protest. Since September, its consumer base has more than doubled, now exceeding 20 million users. As a result of the surge in new customers, including the inevitable scammers, Bluesky finds itself playing catch-up, according to White.
Marx notes that new social media profiles are often swiftly blocked from his view, leaving him unaware of their initial presence. As social media platforms’ endless cycles of content creation and deletion perpetuate a never-ending stream of similar posts. She reported having experienced a similar pattern on both Instagram and TikTok as well.
Implementing a verification process to ensure individuals’ identities align with their self-proclaimed personas would undoubtedly yield significant benefits. Prior to Elon Musk’s tenure as CEO, the team at what was previously known as Twitter, utilized a system where staff members verified accounts belonging to journalists and politicians, subsequently affixing a blue checkmark beside their handles, thereby allowing users to distinguish genuine news sources from others. Following Musk’s takeover, Twitter revamped its outdated verification process, introducing paid blue tick options for subscribers.
Continued crypto-impersonation scams demand that Bluesky take a cue from Twitter’s successful approach by introducing a distinctive verification process, similar to the platform’s unique profile. Several customers, in response to investigative journalist Hunter Walker’s inquiry, have taken the initiative to establish their own projects. While customers are currently limited in their ability to verify themselves on the platform. By design, all usernames on Bluesky conclude with the distinctive bsky.social domain. Organizations and prominent figures verify their identities on the platform by creating custom websites serving as their unique usernames. US senators have confirmed their online profiles by appending the distinctive domain suffix senate.gov to their official digital presence. However this system isn’t foolproof. The website’s affiliation is confirmed without verifying anyone’s identity.
Despite Bluesky’s failure to respond to MIT Expertise Evaluation’s inquiries, the company’s security team disclosed that it had revised its impersonation policy to become more proactive, aiming to remove impersonation and handle-squatting accounts from the platform. The company has significantly expanded its moderation team, quadrupling their workforce to swiftly address impersonation claims. However, it seems to be facing challenges in sustaining its pace. Despite a surge in new customers, the company still faces a significant backlog of moderation studies, despite making steady progress towards clearing this issue.
Bluesky’s decentralized architecture poses a significant challenge in identifying and removing impersonators from the network, complicating efforts to resolve this issue. The adversaries tied to X or threads hinge on decentralized clusters within the organization that perpetuate unpalatable content and behaviors, such as identity impersonation. Built on the decentralized, open-source AT Protocol, Bluesky offers users greater control over the type of content they encounter, allowing them to curate their feeds around specific topics or interests. While most users sign up for Bluesky Social, the pioneering social network, its own group pointers effectively prevent impersonation from the outset. Bluesky Social operates as a platform available to various providers, each with its unique set of moderation policies and terminology.
