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Online trolls are everywhere– on blogs, forums, and even on social media. Considering it is now so easy to create an account on social media, it is no surprise why trolls can just make an account and pretend they are real. In some cases, they even try to impersonate someone else just so people will not realize they are a troll. Thankfully, social media giant Facebook has decided to work on something to help out its users deal with trolls.
According to sources, Facebook is currently testing a new feature that promises to help its genuine users. Based on information about this new feature, Facebook will send a notification to its users once they notice there is an account trying to mimic another user. It does so by checking the name on the two accounts and the likeness of each other. Once a legit user receives a notification, he can get in touch with Facebook to confirm that the other account is trolling him. Mashable has reported that the flagging feature presented by Facebook is automated. However, the response they receive from users they have alerted is manually reviewed.
Apparently, Facebook has been working at improving the algorithm behind this new tool since November of last year. Now, they have announced that they are finally ready to release the tool; which has been live in nearly 75% of its users. Facebook’s Head of Global Safety Antigone Davis confirms that they are finally ready to expand availability of the tool as soon as possible.
Facebook says that this feature was an answer to the feedback left behind by some users as it has been a concern for some women. Particularly in some areas in the world, impersonation has an adverse cultural or social effect. Through its impersonation alerts, Davis believes that Facebook is doing its best to help make women throughout the world feel a lot safer whenever they use Facebook.
Apart from the impersonation alert tool, the company is also working on a couple of safety features including a photo checkup feature and a new way non-consensual intimate images may be reported. Davis shares that while they have successfully banned the sharing of non-consensual intimate images since 2012, they are working hard on a feature that will make reporting such incidents a more compassionate one for the victims of the abuse. Meanwhile, the photo checkup feature helps users check their privacy settings much like the privacy dinosaur on Facebook. It will aim to help each user have a step-by-step guide on how they can control privacy settings of their photos. This feature is currently live in India, and some parts of Africa, southeast Asia, and South America.