Facebook is countering revenge porn with… more porn.
According to reports, a new pilot program is seeking to prevent intimate, er private — ok we’ll just say it — naked photos from surfacing the internet against anyone’s will. The catch is, in order to prevent a nude video from surfacing on Facebook, you’d have to give it up to ’em first.
Users worried about any inappropriate images making way onto Facebook’s platforms are asked to take preventative measure by sending them into Facebook first. That way, the platforms are able to flag and block such images from posting before they ever are shared. It’s all in partnership with the Australian government agency eSafety, in effort to protect social media users.
So your crazy ex, best friend turned enemy, or spiteful roommate won’t be able to post that nude you let get into the wrong hands. All you have to do is dm it straight to Facebook. It’s an unsettling concept, to willfully give your nudes to Facebook… But we can all trust Mark Zuckerberg, right?
After receiving some initial criticism, Facebook’s Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis elaborated on the initiative to fight non-consensual explicit media:
“With this new small pilot, we want to test an emergency option for people to provide a photo proactively to Facebook, so it never gets shared in the first place. This program is completely voluntary. It’s a protective measure that can help prevent a much worse scenario where an image is shared more widely.”
Davis also said eSafety does not access to the actual photos. However, a “specially trained representative from [Facebook’s] Community Operations team” must view the photo before flagging it.
The pilot program is available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia.
What could possibly go wrong?
Sources: CNBC, TechCrunch
