San Francisco: It may sound audacious to some but Facebook thinks that sharing with a trained employee of the company the intimate images that you fear might go viral in the social networking platforms can help it stop their spread, thereby protecting your privacy.
The social networking giant Tuesday said it was testing a reporting tool so that people who worry that someone might want to harm them by sharing an intimate image can proactively upload it, which will eventually help Facebook to block anyone else from sharing it on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger.
Facebook said it entered into partnership with safety organisations on a way for people to securely submit photos they fear will be shared without their consent – images that are also referred to as “revenge porn” or “non-consensual pornography”.
“This pilot programme, starting in Australia, Canada, the UK and US, expands on existing tools for people to report this content to us if it’s already been shared,” Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Head of Safety, wrote in a Facebook post.
From anxiety and depression to the loss of a personal relationship or a job, the result of having most intimate moments shared without permission can be devastating for a person.
And while these images harm people of all genders, ages and sexual-orientations, women are nearly twice as likely as men to be targeted, Davis said.
“This week, Facebook is testing a proactive reporting tool in partnership with an international working group of safety organisations, survivors and victim advocates, including the Australian Office of the eSafety Commissioner, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and The National Network to End Domestic Violence in the US, the UK Revenge Porn Helpline and YWCA Canada,” Davis added.
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