In the future one more step may be required before creating an account and posting on Reddit. According to Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, the social media platform is exploring different ways to verify that a user is human and not a bot. When asked by the TBPN podcast how to use Reddit to confirm it’s a human being, Huffman responded with multiple verification methods with varying degrees of heaviness.
“The lightest way is something like Face ID or Touch ID,” Huffman said during the interview. “They really need a human presence, like a human being has to touch, do or see something, to really prove that there’s a person there or get you far enough.”
In addition to these passkey methods that use biometrics data, Huffman said there are other options such as relying on third-party services that are decentralized or do not require ID. On the other end of the spectrum, Huffman also mentioned more cumbersome options like ID-checking services.
In recent years bots have proliferated on social media platforms, including Reddit, where they have also been used to conduct covert experiments. It doesn’t seem like Reddit has landed on a way to verify the human identity of its users just yet, but Huffman did emphasize that the platform still wants to prioritize anonymity for its users. However, affirming humanity through identifiable and personal data may end up being a dealbreaker for Reddit users who value the anonymity of the platform.
“Part of our promise to our users is that we don’t know your name but we do want to know that you are a person,” Huffman said. “This will be an evolution for us for some time, and perhaps every platform will have to find the right middle ground here.”
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit’s co-founder and former executive chairman, said on We contacted Reddit’s communications team and will update the story when we hear back.
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