Facebook has reportedly built a new captcha tool which will ask users to “upload a photo of yourself that clearly shows your face.” This will help the world’s largest social network determine whether or not the user is actually human or just a bot. It’s testing this new captcha to improve its user verification features. The test does mention that Facebook will permanently delete the selfie from its servers once it has been checked.
Facebook confirmed to Wired that the intention behind this test is to “help us catch suspicious activity at various points of interaction on the site, including creating an account, sending Friend requests, setting up ads payments, and creating or editing ads.”
The entire process is automated, that includes the identification of accounts where suspicious activity has been detected and the checking of the selfie. Facebook will look at whether or not the photo is unlike to determine the user’s identity.
Facebook hasn’t said more details about it because the company says that it doesn’t want the system to be manipulated.
It may lock out users out of accounts that have been flagged. They’ll see a message which says “You’ll now be logged out of Facebook as a security precaution,” and that “We’ll get in touch with you after we’ve reviewed your photo.”
Facebook hasn’t said when it started running this test and it’s yet to confirm if and when it will be rolled out widely.
a friend sent me this: Facebook is now locking users out of account features, then demanding that those users "verify" their account to get back in by scanning an image of their face. AN IMAGE OF THEIR FACE. pic.twitter.com/T4TIsJFxX8
— can Amy Goodman pls stop inviting Assange on thx (@flexlibris) November 28, 2017
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