LinkedIn rolls out passport verification feature

Biometric ID option aimed at curbing fraud on platform amid rise in job scams here

- Osmond Chia

Internet users can now use their biometric passports to verify themselves on LinkedIn in one of the most stringent forms of identity verification deployed by a social media platform.

The optional feature, launched in Singapore in March as part of a phased global roll-out, is aimed at curbing scams, misinformation and poor conduct on the platform, by holding users accountable.

Critics said that the feature is welcome but may have limited success since it is optional.

Government identificationverified user accounts display a verification badge to signal that their account is authentic.

The objective is to inspire confidence in job-hunting even as job scams rose to become the most prevalent scam type here, with 9,914 cases reported in 2023, involving more than $135 million, according to police statistics.

There was a 19 per cent rise in job searches on LinkedIn in 2023 compared with 2022, said Mr Wei Tu, LinkedIn's vice-president of engineering, trust engineering and operations.

He told The Sunday Times: "By providing verified information on profiles, we are fostering a trusted community and helping give professionals, recruiters and job seekers the confidence that who they're connecting with, and the content they come across, is trusted and authentic." As an incentive to users, LinkedIn is offering to boost verified accounts by 60 per cent on average to make them appear more in searches.

Users will have to use biometric passports equipped with nearfield communication (NFC) chips, which wirelessly share small amounts of data when two devices are tapped together.

This form of identification one containing biometric data and digital signatures - is harder to fake than traditional paper documents, said Mr Tu.

Biometric passports are used in more than 170 countries.