Facebook may soon debut a new feature that will help prevent identity theft on the social media platform. The company will be making an effort to reduce the number of inauthentic user profiles by notifying active users when someone registers with the same name and default picture, reports Mashable.
This automated alert system will help users identify accounts that are trying to impersonate them. Users will be notified when a seemingly fraudulent account is created and will have the option to tell the company if they believe it is an imposter. While the alert is an automated process, Facebook will also manually investigate the flagged account to determine the next steps.
Currently, Facebook’s policy does not allow users to create an account impersonating another person. “Pretending to be anyone or anything isn’t allowed,” reads the policy. Despite the policy, imposter profiles exist on Facebook. In fact, the 10-K filing in January cites that the number of “user-misclassified and undesirable accounts” on the platform is less than two percent of their monthly active users. While this number is only an estimate — it could be higher — two percent of the platforms 1.59 billion monthly active users is a significant number.
Imposter accounts qualify as online harassment, which is why Facebook is taking steps to curb them.
"We heard feedback prior to the roundtables and also at the roundtables that this was a point of concern for women," told Facebook's Head of Global Safety Antigone Davis to Mashable. "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."
