When I broached the idea of applying a “know your customer” principle to their business, several senior executives at social media companies recoiled at the prospect, questioning how they would pull off such a huge feat, especially in emerging markets where many people lack credit cards, and even fixed street addresses can be hard to come by.

Then there are the legitimate complaints about Facebook and its ilk already knowing too much about users. Who would want them to know even more? And what would the companies do to protect personal information better than they have in the past? After all, not long ago, Facebook disclosed that tens of millions of user passwords had not been stored securely.

But the stakes may be too high not to consider some kind of heightened verification process.

Facebook and Twitter, at least, clearly appreciate the importance of verification as a concept: Both offer blue-check-mark programs to confirm the authenticity of a small percentage of users, like celebrities.

If the vetting of legitimate users were expanded, and the number of phony ones were reduced, the amount of hate speech and fake news polluting the social media platforms would almost certainly dwindle. And it would be hard for the companies to willfully ignore what remained.

How would it work? A modified version of what goes on in the financial services industry is one possibility.

When you open a bank account, you typically have to provide your name, address, Social Security number and date of birth.

That information is crosschecked against databases to ensure that you’re a real person, that your credit score is solid and that your name doesn’t appear on a list of “politically exposed persons” that could put you at risk for bribery or corruption. The verification is also used to determine whether you have a criminal record that suggests possible money laundering or identity theft.