Over the past two or three years, the power of social media bots and fake news has been one of the largest news stories. In all honesty, we’re already tired of reading about it — but the costs of not paying attention might be too high.
This problem is completely unprecedented and unforeseen. After the international shocks of 2016, most noticeably Trump’s election and the Brexit referendum, we live in a different online world. Trust has disintegrated, the raw and cynical power of weaponized fake news and fake accounts on social media is terrifying the centrist political establishment around the world. It’s high time we developed a different approach.
Who do we allow into our online space? How do we know that these profiles we interact with, albeit fleetingly, are authentic and correspond to a living, breathing human being somewhere? If we are no longer certain, then the whole system breaks down, then this will no longer be a social network — a space that humanises and brings people together — but rather a dehumanising void where the difference between Human and machine, opinion and propaganda, recommendation and advertisement becomes terrifyingly blurred.
Nimses is a new online social and economic platform that tries to tackle these dehumanising dangers. Nimses is a platform for Humans: real Humans. Nimses has different user statuses reflecting how certain the system is that the account (Nimses ID) belongs to a real human. After installing the app, you are automatically assigned User status. User’s powers are restricted: Users have no access to Nimses platforms and have their transactions in nims limited. In order to receive Human status and to unlock all the possibilities that the app offers, you need to be verified by six other users who have already reached Human status.
That’s right, you need to be verified as a living breathing human by SIX other users, who have each already been verified as real humans by SIX other users, who have each already been verified as real humans by SIX other users, who have each already been verified as real humans by SIX other users, who have each already been verified as real humans by SIX other users, who have each… you get the idea.
This means that at this early stage of the app’s exposure it can be at times frustrating for a new user. How can you find six people who know you personally and are also are verified on the app? As Nimses expands across the world, and the number of Humans grows exponentially, soon this won’t be a question. For the long-term success and trustworthiness of Nimses, bots and scammers need to be barred from joining the app from the very beginning.
Why such a strict system?
Nimses is not just a social media platform — it is an entire new anthropological plane of reality, and an online economy based on the exchange of minutes of human life. After registration, each Nimses user receives one nim per minute of their life. If nims were earned in bad faith, if one individual somehow controls more than one account, then the fairness and integrity of this system are compromised and undermined.
How does Nimses stop fake verification?
Nimses records the entire history of changes in user’s identity levels (i.e their verifications) in the permanent digital storage. This verification history trail is constantly scanned and analyzed in order to detect fraudulent or suspicious activity. If a counterfeit account is found, penalties are placed, either a fine in nims or restriction from the app altogether. If a Nimses ID knowingly or unknowingly gives false identification to a User that does not correspond to one real human, then they will also be penalized through a fine in nims, or restricted access to the app.
Nimses is taking correct, strict steps to ensure that in this post-2016 world, the infrastructure of their app and social network is not compromised by opportunists, propagandists or bots. It’s a shame that such measures have to be taken, but it is very important that we all take responsibility in creating a truly human online space. Large companies and social networks of the future need to be aware of this responsibility from the get-go, and Nimses has recognized this.
