Facebook is testing a new feature that will alert you if someone tries to impersonate your account by using your name and profile photo.
Advertisement
Facebook is working on a tool that can tell if someone is impersonating you on the social network. It will then alert you if someone is using any of your personal information and you will be asked to verify that it is, or isn’t, your likeness, name or photos.
The Facebook team will also manually review any profiles that are flagged as impostors to ensure that the wrong accounts aren’t shut down.
Facebook has been testing the feature since November of a year ago and is now active to around 75 percent of users. “And it’s a real point of concern for some women in certain regions of the world where it [impersonation]may have certain cultural or social ramifications”. This could be a clever way to use its facial recognition feature found in Moments. The notified user will have to review the profile and, if it is indeed an impersonation, flag it so that Facebook can take it down. The company has been hosting roundtable discussions around the world with users, activists, NGOs and other groups to gather feedback on how the platform can better address issues around privacy and safety. This isn’t the end of Facebook’s upcoming safety features, though.
Facebook is also now testing out two new security features to combat other ways of online harassment. That is meant to help stop abuse by allowing people to report inappropriate images that contain themselves – those pictures will then be removed and the site may offer links to resources that will help people if they are being abused or harassed.
She added that Facebook wants to collect more feedback and research before rolling this feature out to more users.
Users don’t have to wait for Facebook’s algorithm to alert them to a potential imposter. The photo tool check-up is available in India, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Advertisement
Lastly, the second tool will be more focused on privacy – users will be able to easily know who can see their photos.
