Social networking site, Facebook, has introduced its new tool for the Indian users to protect their profile pictures from being misused. This tool will give the users in India more control over who can download and share their profile pictures.
Aarati Soman, Product Manager at Facebook, said in a post on Wednesday, “In India, we’ve heard that people want more control over their profile pictures, and we’ve been working over the past year to understand how we can help. Today, we are piloting new tools that give people in India more control over who can download and share their profile pictures. In addition, we’re exploring ways people can more easily add designs to profile pictures, which our research has shown helpful in deterring misuse”
Based on the learnings it would gather from India, Facebook hopes to further take this feature to other countries. These new tools are developed in partnership with safety organisations, including Centre for Social Research and Learning Links Foundation in New Delhi.
There will be a step-by-step guide for users in India to add an optional profile picture guard. When a user adds this guard, other people will no longer be able to download, share or send their profile picture in a message on Facebook. If the user is not friends with anyone on Facebook, people won’t be able to tag anyone, including themselves, in the user’s profile picture.
Where possible, Facebook will prevent others from taking a screenshot of the profile picture, which is currently available only on Android devices. The company would also display a blue border and shield around the user’s profile picture as a visual cue of protection.