Reddit accounts behaving like glitchy bots may soon have to prove they're humans.on the shore

Reddit is cracking down on bots with a new human verification requirement for accounts that exhibit "automated" or "bad" behavior.

Reddit is taking a new step to identify bots on the platform - a step that may require some users to verify they're human.In a post on Wednesday, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman wrote that the company will introduce a system to flag accounts registered as bots and ask users with "automated" or "fishy" behavior to verify they are human using methods such as fingerprint scans or ID submissions.

A Reddit account that appears to be 'suspicious' bots will soon prove to be human.

According to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, human verification is rare and doesn't apply to most users.

According to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, human verification will be "rare and not applicable to most users."

This update allows developers to automatically register accounts on Reddit, which will be given an "[APP] label."However, Reddit also says it looks for unlabeled accounts with suspicious behavior."If there is anything, including automation (hello, web agents), that indicates the account is not human, we may ask you to verify that there is a human behind it," Huffman wrote, adding that such cases "are rare and do not apply to most users."

Reddit will ask users behind suspicious bot accounts to verify that they are human, and is testing several verification methods to do so without identifying who the person is.This includes asking users to complete a password lock test, such as scanning their fingerprint on a smartphone or entering a PIN code.It is also testing the use of third-party biometric services, such as the Sam Altman-backed World ID, which uses eyeball-scanning balls to verify humanity.

Huffman also mentions third-party ID verification services, which he says are the "least secure, least private, and least desirable" method of verification.He adds that the UK and Australia already need support for this type of verification.Suspected bot accounts that can't verify their humanity "may be limited," Huffman said.

Last year, Reddit began testing account verification for brands and individual users.Huffman hinted at the launch of a bot verification system in a letter to shareholders in February and floated the idea of ​​using Face ID to verify a user's humanity during an interview with TBPN this week.

With this update, Huffman says Reddit is trying to make reporting suspicious bots "easier and more flexible," though the platform won't be strict on all accounts that use AI to write posts."We will monitor its usage and see what happens as we automatically crack down on even more accounts," Huffman says."Our current goal is to make sure there's a real, live person behind your accounts."