I absolutely agree that misinformation (and disinformation) is a problem. However, I do not think that it is something with a good software solution at this time. The traditional/corporate social media effectively implemented a non-solution to the problem and declared it solved. Not to mention, verification of identity is an issue that governments also struggle with, relying on substantial amounts of good faith.

There ARE means of tying a software identity to a verifiable and hard to counterfeit computing object. For example, a local cryptographic key pair or a hardware security module. However, without involvement of a trusted third-party, it is not currently possible to tie this computing object to a specific human being.

My thinking is that attempting to implement an identity verification component in the Fediverse, therefore, is likely a misallocation of effort that could be better spent fixing bugs, extending features, and improving stability and interoperability. There is a lot still to do in virtually every project that I’ve peeked at, whether it’s mod tools, IaC, or just plain code cleanup. I think that at this juncture, what is required is more on the social side of things, ensuring that people are aware that one cannot believe everything that they see on the Internet or the identity claims of those that they interact with, unless they undertake further verification themselves. This is what was done in pre-social media forums and BBS systems with a good degree of effectiveness.

Don’t get me wrong, I would be ecstatic to be proven incorrect but would much prefer that identity verification be shelved until such a time as crytographers are able to solve it with their dark mathematical arts than for any Fediverse project to waste time from people’s lives trying to implement a similar non-solution.