X signups now require a face photo
10 points by xvxvx 18 hours ago | 4 comments
Signing up for a new X account via the app now asks that you let it take a photo with the camera and upload it to ‘prove you’re human’. No thanks.

I get that bot accounts are a genuine problem, but Twitter/X has been trying to de-anonymize users for many years. Someone should write a book on all their tricks. From requiring phone numbers for authentication, to offering various pay incentives. It’s a crafty way to get people to self-censor.

  • atlgator 17 hours ago |
    They cannot achieve their goal of becoming the US WeChat if users remain anonymous.
  • k310 16 hours ago |
    Why demand that users be human when Grok, the electronic "soul" of the site, isn't?

    It's asymmetrical warfare against users.

    Again.

    Oh, and bot accounts aren't a problem. They're a feature. Grok can only lie, but it can't amplify the lies. Bot accounts do that, and do it well.

  • supernes 13 hours ago |
    It's not just new accounts. Since at least around mid-August they have been deactivating existing accounts (some 10+ years old) by forcing them into a broken "human verification" flow. You have to pass a Cloudflare check if using the web client, which then discards the signal and forces you to go through the app flow (which many report is also broken/stuck).

    I suspect it's a crackdown on accounts used for services like xcancel/nitter, but their heuristics are laughably poor and have resulted in a massive wave of false positive effective "bans" while having no noticeable impact on mirroring services.

  • spacedcowboy 10 hours ago |
    Much as I am loathe to excuse X for anything, I suspect that it’s due to the trend for governments putting age-related restrictions on exactly the sort of stuff that pervades X.

    I’m going through the same thing setting up blewit [1] (a reaction to the traditional “sell the people’s data” social media sites) at the moment, had a phone call with the National Crime Agency, got all my Ofcom policies documented etc) - mainly because it’s a) user-to-user and b) because we will allow nsfw stuff after an age verification. That’s the law now in the UK and it has teeth - a criminal prosecution, not something a company can shield directors from.

    1: https://blewit.net <- tap on ‘Open the sandbox’ for a demo