Social media giant Facebook has joined the ID2020 Alliance, in an effort to learn and build on standards for digital identity (ID) that are secure and privacy-centric.

The ID2020 Alliance is a global public-private partnership whose mission is to ensure individuals control their own digital IDs, and that digital ID technologies that are developed and implemented are ethical.

Other members include Microsoft, Accenture, Mastercard and the Rockefeller Foundation.

In a statement, the ID2020 Alliance says Facebook will join its technical advisory committee.

“We welcome partners that commit in earnest to upholding the values and principles outlined in the ID2020 manifesto, and that share our mission to improve lives through good digital ID,” says ID2020 executive director Dakota Gruener. “We could not be more pleased to welcome Facebook to our rapidly-growing community.”

Perceived as one of the most significant technology trends, a digital ID is a legal biometrics-based equivalent of an individual's identity card, which can be used to prove an individual's identity and verify their profession, providing them the right to access information or services online or physically.

The United Nations and World Bank envision that by 2030, every individual in the world will have a digital identity. It’s said there’s currently 1.1 billion people worldwide that live without a digital identity.

According to the alliance, its partners share a commitment to a future in which all of the world’s nearly eight billion people can exercise their basic human rights and reap the benefits of economic empowerment.

In February, ID2020 launched the Good Health Pass Collaborative, to encourage interoperability between the COVID-19 health credentialing solutions being developed by numerous organisations.

It notes the collaborative has brought together more than 125 global companies and organisations from across the health, travel and technology sectors, to develop open standards for digital health passes aimed at restoring international travel and restarting the global economy.