Facebook Quickly Rolls Out One-Click Tool To Protect Afghanistan Users
Image via AngieYeoh / Shutterstock.com
Amid the chaos unfolding in Afghanistan, Facebook has swiftly rolled out a few new measures in a bid to protect its users located in the country.
Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s Head of Security Policy, shared a statement on Twitter about the new “one-click” tool, which allows users to make timeline posts private, while preventing profile photos from being downloaded or otherwise shared.
4/ We’ve launched a one-click tool for people in Afghanistan to quickly lock down their account. When their profile is locked, people who aren’t their friends can’t download or share their profile photo or see posts on their timeline. pic.twitter.com/pUANh5uBgn
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) August 19, 2021
Users will receive popup alerts upon launching the social media platform, encouraging them to “limit what unknown people can see” with the option to “lock your profile.”
While Instagram doesn’t currently have a similar measure rolled out, Gleicher details that the app will be sending alerts to Instagram users reminding them of the ways they can lock their accounts down in a similar way.
He also added that the company has also temporarily removed the view and search function for friends lists for users located in Afghanistan. While this isn’t being implemented outside the country, he’s also encouraged those with Facebook friends located there to change their friends list privacy settings in order to protect them.
In the thread, Gleicher also shared external resources to keep journalists and activists safe.
8/ For journalists & activists in Afghanistan (or any high-risk environment), it’s important to remember that @FB is only one piece of the online environment so I wanted to boost a few CSO guides for protecting accounts online more broadly:
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) August 19, 2021
“We know that no single step is enough by itself in crises like this, but we’re watching closely as the situation develops and will take steps to help protect people in real-time,” he concluded.
2/ Over the past week, our teams have been working around the clock to do everything we can to help keep people safe. While we have to be careful to avoid tipping off bad actors, here are a few security measures we’ve rolled out for people in country to protect their accounts.
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) August 19, 2021
14/ Another useful resource for people in Afghanistan looking to protect themselves online (via @runasand and @msuiche): https://t.co/uRYnhrtrMb
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) August 19, 2021
[via Engadget, image via AngieYeoh / Shutterstock.com]
