There’s no doubt about it: the consumption of cryptocurrency articles, news, and updates strengthens the cryptocurrency-social media relationship. Social media and other media outlets can cause cryptocurrency price fluctuations, sometimes in a negative way.
When Hong Kong-based Bitfinex exchange hack dominated social media news feeds, it caused a significant drop in digital currency value by 20%.
Of course, it works in positive ways. Social media played a big part in cryptocurrencies mainstream success because it began its first forum on a social media platform. Laszlo Hanyecz conducted the first bitcoin transaction for two Papa John’s pizzas. The pizzas were bought for 10,000 bitcoins and now they are worth millions today. Now, enthusiasts are even trading bitcoin futures, buying goods at mainstream stores, and caused a worldwide phenomenon.
Twitter Spam: What’s Happening Now?
While social media helps cryptocurrency, the system behind cryptocurrency is being considered by social media tech giants. The nature of this relationship advances as blockchain technology appeals to Twitter to combat spamming.
Since the 2018 midterm elections are approaching, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was scheduled to be present at the Senate hearing on election meddling. The CEO was summoned by a House Energy and Commerce congressional committee to address Russian Interference in the US election claims.
Dorsey addresses the tech monopoly bias conspiracy by stating the company is currently in the process of exploring blockchain solutions that could help fight online scams.
While Twitter attempts to ban scammers and impersonators on its platform, Elon Musk has been a recent target. The Tesla Chairman and CEO’s Twitter account was breached last Thursday with a fake verified account.
The account spread false promises of free Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies to his 22.5 million followers. Elon Musk noticed the impersonator on his timeline while drafting a tweet for his followers. The tweet of the impersonator asked his users to trade and gain in cryptocurrencies.
Several forged or hijacked Twitter accounts such as John McAfee, 50 Cent, Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin, Charlie Lee, and even President Donald Trump to post updates for CoinMarketCap and Coinbase in hopes they’d be taken seriously.
Other social media sites have been trying to figure out how to address their spam issue. Facebook has made efforts to deleting false accounts that have posted fake news or false information in general. Blockchain distributed ledger system can help with verification of information, identities, data, and news.
What Can Blockchain Offer?
Blockchain offers great potential for weaving out scams due to its distributed enforcement and trust methodology. As of now, the status of their blockchain project is in its early stages and they haven’t figured out how it can address Twitter problems.
Especially since social media platforms collect a huge amount of data, the necessity of blockchain technology is becoming more demanded. The social media algorithm is constantly collecting data based off a users search history and preferences, resulting in the flood of advertisements on a users facebook timeline.
Other social media sites have been trying to figure out how to address their spam issue. Facebook has made efforts to deleting false accounts that have posted fake news or false information in general. Blockchain distributed ledger system can help with verification of information, identities, data, and news.
The Facebook and Cambridge Analytica controversy has shown us that user information can be manipulated, distributed to third parties, and sold, bringing in revenue for Facebook without sharing it with the users whose information is being sold.