Facebook Testing Tool Which Flags Fake Accounts

It’s easy to make accounts on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. You might only make one but you might not even know if someone makes a fake account under your name. Given the fact that all of us lead such connected lives right now, any damage to our reputation online by someone with a grudge can prove difficult to fix. It’s important that social networks have tools in place that help stop others from impersonating accounts and that’s what Facebook is working on.

Mashable reports that Facebook is testing a new feature which will automatically alert you when it detects that someone else is impersonating your account by using your profile photo and name.

You will only get an alert once the feature detects someone impersonating you. The alert will ask you identify if the profile really is impersonating you or if it belongs to someone else who is not impersonating you.

While the notification process is automated, accounts flagged as impersonations are manually reviewed by Facebook. This feature entered testing in November last year and is believed to have gone live for 75 percent of Facebook’s billion-plus users, according to Facebook’s Head of Global Safety Antigone Davis.

Mentioning that Facebook heard feedback from users Davis added that “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.”

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web
Tags: Facebook