There is no dearth of misleading content on social media, and so are accounts that occasionally drive viral engagement by posting sensational content with harmful intent or laden with wrong information. Facebook aims to put a lid on this trend by verifying the identity of such accounts that tend to be in the spotlight from time to time.

The social media giant says it seeks to “verify the identity of people who have a pattern of inauthentic behavior on Facebook and whose posts start to rapidly go viral in the US.” The goal is to make sure that the account is not a bot or is run by someone who wants to keep his/ her identity a secret. The move aims to boost transparency and let the audience know the source behind the content they’re consuming.

If such an “occasionally viral” or “part-time famous” account fails to comply with Facebook’s identity verification norms, the distribution of their viral posts will be toned down to reduce the size of its target audience. And if a page admin fails to complete the Page Publishing Authorization process, he/ she will no longer be allowed to post from that Facebook page unless their identity is verified.

Source: Facebook