We've all seen MTV's show Catfish and know just how easy it is for someone to use photos that aren't of them to pretend to be that person on Facebook. This can often lead to online harassment, not to mention that person stealing someone else's identity. But now the social network is taking steps to help prevent impersonators.
Facebook is reportedly testing a new feature that will alert users if someone else is impersonating their account.
The anti-trolling tool identifies and flags accounts that are suspicious based on names and profile photos, and these instances are then also manually reviewed by a team at Facebook. When first detected, the social network automatically sends an alert that someone could potentially be impersonating the user's account. The user would then have to confirm using their personal information that they are using the profile to post or if someone else is behind it.
According to Mashable, Facebook began testing this feature in November 2015, and it is already being used in about 75 percent of the world. The anti-impersonator feature was designed to make women in certain parts of the world feel safer on the platform.
Facebook plans to continue rolling out the feature more widely.
Impersonating accounts is a form of harassment on Facebook, an action the company does not tolerate. Facebook users are required to use their real names, which means impersonators are breaching the social network's names policy.
Along with identifying accounts where others may be impersonating users, Facebook is also testing out two more features that would increase safety on the platform. These include a new feature for reporting nude images and a photo checkup feature.
Facebook does not allow users to share intimate photos where all people included in the image did not consent to it being shared publicly. This new tool would be more sensitive toward victims when it comes to them reporting these types of images. Users will be able to identify themselves as someone in the photo to get the image taken down. Once they report the image, they will be provided with links to support groups and potential legal options.
The second photo tool will help inform users about who exactly can see their photos.
Source: Mashable
Photo: Marcus Quigmire | Flickr
