Facebook is working on a tool that can tell if someone is impersonating you on the social network.
According to Mashable, the feature would automatically alert you if it detected someone impersonating you by using your name and profile photo.
Once you get the alert, you’ll be prompted to identify whether the person is indeed impersonating you by using your personal information, or whether it’s just a coincidence.
The firm started testing the feature in November, and it’s now live in about three quarters of the world.
While it automatically notifies you if it thinks someone is impersonating you, each possibly fraudulent profile is manually reviewed by Facebook.
Facebook requires users to sign up using their real names. While impersonation itself isn’t a massive issue, it does make it easier for trolls to harass others without being identified.
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This is particularly a problem for women, according to Antigone Davis, Facebook’s head of global safety.
“We heard feedback prior to the roundtables and also at the roundtables that this was a point of concern for women,” Davis told Mashable. “And it’s a real point of concern for some women in certain regions of the world where [impersonation] may have certain cultural or social ramifications.”
Read more: Facebook follows WhatsApp in ditching BlackBerry
The feature has come out of discussions Facebook has been having with users, activists, NGOs and other groups. Two other safety features have also resulted from the roundtable talks: new ways of reporting nonconsensual intimate images, and a photo check-up feature.
Both are still in testing at the moment, so look out for a full rollout soon.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
