2016-03-23

Facebook tests troll-fighting tool that automatically alerts users if their profiles are being impersonated

The social network says impersonation is a point of concern for women around the world who are the target of harassment


Facebook is testing a tool that will find fake troll accounts



Facebook is currently testing a new feature to fight back against trolls impersonating profile pages.

The social network is perfecting a program that will automatically search for profiles containing identical names and pictures of actual users - then notify people of the imposter.

If you suddenly find an alert from Facebook that your account is being targeted, you can flag it to a dedicated team at the company who are tasked with removing this nastiness .

"While impersonation isn't necessarily a widespread problem on Facebook, it is a source of harassment on the platform, despite the company's longstanding policy against it," said tech site Mashable, which first reported the plans.


"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," Facebook's head of global safety Antigone Davis told the site.

Facebook confirmed that it has been testing the feature since November, but is gathering more feedback and research before rolling out to its 1.6 billion active users.

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