An increase in reported cases of online harassment has prompted Facebook to develop a new feature that alerts you to someone who may be impersonating your account.
The feature, which is currently in its testing phase, is already live in 75 per cent of the world, Facebook’s head of Global Safety Antigone David told Mashable.
The idea is to alert the user through an automatised notification process, where flagged profiles are investigated by the Facebook team.
In addition, Facebook will also be introducing a more personalised way to report nonconsensual intimate images.
While Facebook has a ban on sharing non-consensual images since a change in its user policy in 2012, this new feature aims to make the process of reporting less daunting. You will be able to report the inappropriate photo and identify yourself in it, at which point you will be given the opportunity to access support groups for victims of abuse, as well as websites that provide legal advice.
While impersonation has become much more difficult under Facebook’s policy of authentic names, Davis says it can still cause problems: “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.”
