If Reddit required face scans to prove you’re human… would you still use it?
With AI bots getting harder to detect, there’s been growing discussion around platforms using biometric verification (like face scans) to confirm real users.
Cool in theory... Reddit is full of bots, fake accounts and garbage engagement. But let’s be real…
Reddit without anonymity isn’t Reddit.
The whole point of this platform is:
Saying things you wouldn’t say elsewhere
Being anonymous without consequences tied to your real identity
Having raw, unfiltered discussions
And now the proposed solution is… scan your face?
But what's the guarantee tech companies not to store or misuse biometric data.
Even if they promise they won’t store it:
No one believes that
Data leaks happen all the time
And once that line is crossed, there’s no going back
On one side, identity verification could:
Reduce bots and fake accounts
Improve trust in conversations
Clean up spam-heavy communities
On the other hand, Reddit has always been built on anonymity, and changes like this could shift how people use the platform entirely.
There are also alternative ideas being floated:
Zero-knowledge proof verification
Device-based authentication
Temporary “human verification” tokens
Two questions for the PH community here:
If you use Reddit, what would you want: fewer bots or actual anonymity?
Should Product Hunt apply the same verification to find and delete bots or fake accounts?
P.S. I am currently working on a pilot with Reddit's ex-CTO to test identity verification on my subreddit. I will check the sentiment of the community at my subreddit r/GrowthHacking and report back here.
Replies
the funniest part about this debate is that deepfakes already beat face scans lol. by the time reddit ships biometric verification the bots will pass it better than humans. the real bot signal isnt identity its behavior, and reddit already has all the behavioral data they need, they just dont use it well
@umairnadeem This is such a sharp observation, and a very fresh perspective what wasn't shared by anyone else in the comments yet. I completely agree that the strongest “bot signal” is behavior, not just identity, and Reddit is sitting on a goldmine of behavioral data it could be using more intelligently.
Thanks a lot for dropping by and articulating this so clearly, it really pushes the conversation in a more practical direction. :)
On one hand, fewer bots and spam would be amazing, threads would actually have signal again and mods wouldn’t be fighting garbage all day. But forcing face scans kinda kills what made Reddit work in the first place.
Anything heavy like face scans feels very un-Reddit.
@npmitaart I second you! Fewer bots and less spam would be amazing, but not at the cost of killing what made Reddit special in the first place.
Your point about “lighter” approaches like older-account weighting, per-subreddit reputation, and optional verification badges feels very Reddit-native compared to hard face scans.
I appreciate you taking the time to share such a nuanced view here. :)
A better approach would be smarter bot detection. Once you introduce face verification, it fundamentally breaks what makes platforms like Reddit work (Anonymity). When people feel their real identity is tied to what they say, the nature of the conversations changes completely.
@hitesh55 You summed it up perfectly... smarter bot detection should be the first tool we reach for, not something as heavy as face verification.
I completely resonate with your point that once people feel their real identity is tied to every comment, the entire tone and honesty of conversations can shift.
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your perspective. :)
I get the idea but trust is the problem. Once biometric data is involved people will always worry. What would make users actually feel safe with this?
Your pilot sounds more interesting than the idea itself tbh. Real user reaction will say a lot. What kind of response are you expecting from the subreddit?
Scade.pro
It's an interesting platform but requiring facial recognition to log in is a bit much. I don't use Reddit much, and with that kind of verification, I'd probably stop using it completely.
Apparent for Gmail
I don't think I would be opposed to the idea of that level of validation, ideally one-time, but I would care A LOT about who is actually doing the validation, how it's handled, etc.
Build Check
Probably not 😅
PickleMatch
If you use Reddit, what would you want: fewer bots or actual anonymity? In my opinion, bots are a part of the community and valuable as long as they are identified as such. X has a decent approach here IMO, paying a nominal fee to verify yourself as a human while still letting bots operate automations and updates.
No I would not. Plus, it is not necessary with reddit. They have moderators. Facebook or twitter are a hellhole of bots. Reddit doesn't have that as much because they have moderators. They have some but its one of the few websites where you might actually be looking at comments from real people.