Facebook has announced significant new measures to increase the security of Messenger, as well as combat predators and scammers.
Tech giants have increasingly been under pressure to do more to protect their users, especially minors. Social media and online platforms have become the tool of choice for many individuals looking to prey on children. Even adults are often faced with a plethora of security risks and potential scams.
In a blog post, Jay Sullivan, Director of Product Management, Messenger Privacy and Safety, outlines a number of new features the company is implementing.
Facebook is moving its messaging service to end-to-end encryption, which will provide a far greater degree of privacy. At the same time, it has required the company to come up with new ways to help protect its users, since end-to-end encryption prevents it from reading or monitoring messages. Instead, Facebook has turned to machine learning to analyze patterns of behavior that could indicate something is amiss.
“Keeping minors safe on our platforms is one of our greatest responsibilities,” writes Sullivan. “Messenger already has special protections in place for minors that limit contact from adults they aren’t connected to, and we use machine learning to detect and disable the accounts of adults who are engaging in inappropriate interactions with children. Our new feature educates people under the age of 18 to be cautious when interacting with an adult they may not know and empowers them to take action before responding to a message.”
Facebook is also using new safety notices as a way to better educate people and help them spot scams sooner. Overall, these features are welcome news from Facebook and should go a long way toward protecting its users.