There is an age-old saying: In the Internet, no one knows you’re a
dog. It is commonly used as a reference to those who portray themselves,
through various profiles, with altered images and a carefully
constructed story, as something which, in real life, they are not. The
construction of an alternative ego, a different personality slightly
removed from reality is common to all Internet users regardless of age,
gender or social position. Everyone wishes to be seen as something
slightly better, something slightly different to what they really are,
to appear more interesting, more attractive. It is an absolutely normal
state of affairs, a human failing, if you will, which we all know, all
practice and all accept.
Life in general would be a very boring event if there wasn’t a little
bit of spice added somewhere along the line, be it the fascination of
someone else’s experiences or their imagination, the unusual, the
compelling, the fantastic. There is a difference, though, between the
real with a few added details, a little enhancement, a touch of fantasy
and a downright fake; someone who creates a profile on one or another of
the many social media sites with the sole intention of fooling others
for material or personal gain.
The number of fakes, of false profiles on social media sites, and
their potential range of influence cannot be underestimated. Facebook
has officially admitted that over eighty million accounts on its highly
popular social platform may be considered as fake and it is likely that
similar networks, including the micro-blogging site Twitter, could
produce similar high figures. It is difficult to say whether individual
accounts have been maliciously created or whether they are considered a
mild prank by those using them when taking the numbers as a whole but,
as a recent example on Twitter shows, their influence can be wide
ranging.
Twitter normally has a system of verification in place for well
known, popular or high ranking individuals as well as some business and
news services. Here the verification ensures that the person or people
using the account are who they say they are and such accounts have a
small symbol next to the user name for all to see.
There is, however, no system in place to protect certain names from
use. An individual who decides to use the name of a popular and
expensive perfume, for example, will be accepted and allowed full
access until such time as the trade mark holder lodges an official
complaint to assert their legal rights. Thus an individual was capable
of changing an already existing account’s name to that of a popular news
service and promulgating the news that Margaret Thatcher, former
Conservative Prime Minister, had died. The story was immediately snapped
up by other news services and by many individual Twitter users, despite
the lack of a verification symbol.
Twitter also has the disadvantage, as far as normal users are
concerned, of having many so-called parody accounts: users who claim to
be a certain person but, on their short biography, openly admit they are
not this person and are only playing games with the name. Often these
accounts propagate scurrilous stories about stars, make fun of their
actions and beliefs or re-post authentic comments and events as if they
were their own. Not all parody accounts, despite the rules laid down by
Twitter, make it clear that they are such and these may be termed fake
accounts too.
Far worse, for the normal user, are the accounts, regardless of which
social media network is being used, where it is not initially clear
that the account is a fake, where the user has specifically created the
account in a different name, with a different personality, either to
maliciously attack that person or to use the account to influence or
harm others. Such accounts are very popular, since there are no
safeguards or checks on identity, amongst pedophiles and other predators
who have a personal interest in remaining as anonymous as possible.
Such accounts can often be found on sites catering for minors,
especially chat rooms and similar forums where private and web cam
conversations are possible.
Technological advances have made the flushing out of fakes both
easier and harder. With each new advance towards more openness, each
move towards personal identification or verification there comes a new
system or method of hiding, of disguising true identity and intentions.
Software alone can no longer verify the identity of a person, or their
intentions, behind a faked personality or profile, but can be used as an
aid to commonsense.
That said, the intentions of a person visiting a chat room or forum
solely intended for minors are easy enough to guess and, in almost all
cases, revolve around sex with under-aged children or personal sexual
satisfaction through the use of a web cam and the manipulation of a
child to do things which are not legal or acceptable.
The available software to flush out fakes begins with a simple search
engine. The checking of other social media networks for similar
profiles, for the same or similar photographs, for cached activity
connected to an e-mail address or a specific name. Beyond that it comes
down to experience and the level of trust a person wishes to give a new
connection.
It is a good rule of thumb, as far as Internet friends are concerned,
not to trust them at all until such time as they have proven
themselves, no matter how long it may take. It is also advisable to know
exactly how a specific social media network operates, how to report
someone, how to block someone, how to gain protection against attack or
unwanted attention. Here the experience of others, especially for new
users, is of the utmost importance and should be called upon at all
times. Likewise, in the case of unwanted or improper attention – such as
stalking – other real life and virtual people should be turned to for
help, with the first choice being real people who the user already knows
and trusts.
The greatest aid to flushing out fakes, especially for older users
with more Internet experience, is commonsense. A profile which appears
to be too good to be true, too perfect, probably is just that. New
profiles without any history of use behind them should also be treated
with some skepticism initially.
Profiles including professional photographs or those which look as if
they have been scanned in from a magazine and especially those where
the image of a well known personality has been used should be treated
with caution, if not immediately avoided. There may be any number of
reasons why a person does not wish to show their full face on the
Internet, or, why they cannot or will not publish their location, but it
is up to the profile user to state their case, not for potential
friends to be forced to call them out.
The language a person uses in conversation, in their posts and
similar, can also often give a clue as to their age at the very least. A
twelve year old writes and talks in a completely different manner to a
sixteen year old who, following on, has a different manner of expression
to that of a twenty-five year old.
Men write in a different fashion and style to women and their
interests often have no relation one to the other. Likewise the level of
education, indicated through what they write and the level of knowledge
behind their posts, can give a good indication of whether a person is
who they claim to be or not, as can knowledge of a specific trade or
business and their depth of knowledge over hobbies and pastimes.
At the same time, it is important to remember that some people,
either because of their situation or a personal phobia, for example, may
have exceptional reasons for not creating a profile in their own name.
This is where the level of trust shown comes into play, alongside
commonsense. A person who has to hide their true identity for work or
social position reasons may well be acceptable, one who hides their
identity because of an existing relationship less so.
In almost all cases, however, the answer for fake profiles should be
Report, Flush or Block, Move on. Someone who is not prepared to reveal
their true self when building a friendship – online or in real life –
but insists on hiding behind a different identity, a faked personality
and interests, is not going to be a good friend, and certainly not a
person one should be willing to meet up within real life.
Viktoria Michaelis
