Facebook to control harassment with its new feature

FILE: Facebook has introduced the “Ignore” tool on Messenger, an option to ignore a conversation that is intended to stop cases of further harassment to a victim from a blocked user. (Photo: Facebook/Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — Social Media giant Facebook announced new features designed to restrict harassment of its users.

Facebook has introduced the “Ignore” tool on Messenger, an option to ignore a conversation that is intended to stop cases of further harassment to a victim from a blocked user.

The company also said that it has strengthened its system to avoid unwelcome communication from a blocked person who created a new account.

“We’ve also heard from groups that work with survivors of domestic violence that being able to see messages is often a valuable tool to assess if there is a risk of additional abuse,” Facebook said.

“Now, you can tap on a message to ignore the conversation. This disables notifications and moves the conversation from your inbox to your Filtered Messages folder. You can read messages in the conversation without the sender seeing if they’ve been read,” it added.

Facebook also said that it also build an existing feature that prevents fake and inauthentic accounts on the online platform, following stories of users that they have already blocked someone, yet, still came across the same harasser using a different account.

“These automated features help us identify fake accounts more quickly and block millions of them at registration every day. However, sometimes a new account created by someone who was previously blocked might not get caught by these features,” Facebook added.

“The person who blocked the original account is in control and must initiate contact with the new account in order for them to interact normally,” it also said.

The company said it has sought the advice of experts in improving the safety resources of the users of the online platform.

“We’ve developed new resources for survivors of domestic violence in partnership with the National Network to End Domestic Violence,” Facebook said.

“This is in addition to our work with more than 150 safety experts over the last year in India, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Sweden and the US to get feedback on ways we can improve,” it added.

Facebook also reiterated that it has previously prohibited harassment through its community standards, stressing that they take action on people who have violated these standards.

“People can let us know when they see something concerning or have a bad experience. We review reports and take action on abuse, like removing content, disabling accounts and limiting certain features like commenting for people who have violated our community standards,” it said.

“People can also control what they share, who they share it with and who can communicate with them. These new features for personal profiles give people additional ways to manage their experience on Facebook,” it added.