Facebook has now over a billion users on the planet, and the big number of users has come with a certain type of new responsibility that the company seems to be embracing it with a new set of tools to ensure the privacy of its users, especially in India. The profile picture option on the homepage of the most popular social media site on the planet exposes users to certain kinds of dangers, primarily the misuse of profile pictures(that can be viewed by everyone) is a top concern in some countries.
Facebook has now announced a new set of tools for keeping profile pictures safe for users in India, and it lets users keep their profile pictures from being downloaded and copied from their accounts. The tools are optional of course, and will prevent other users on the site from downloading, copying or sending over messenger the pictures to other people. The new tools will also prevent users that are not added as friends to tag users, including themselves, on profile pictures. Also, users have the added advantage of other users not being able to take screenshots of profile images for all pictures viewed on Android devices.
All profile pictures that are guarded by the new security tools will be indicated by a brand new blue border and a small shield around the image. There is also the option of choosing from a number of designs for users in India, including textile patterns from India, which can be added to the profile pictures. A forecast put out by the company said that users will be about 75% less likely to copy profile pictures of other users if the design is put into place. Facebook also said that the tools will be available for users elsewhere if the trial works well in India.
While the tool is not available for every user, there are a two ways to get it done in case the feature is available for your account. First, we would suggest you to attempt and refresh the Newsfeed of your account. You will get a prompt mentioning help in protecting your profile picture. Tap on the message, and then on Turn On Profile Guard. This will take you to a screen that will explain to you the pros and cons of using the Picture Guard, where you might tap on Next, which will take you to your profile picture, plus the shield symbol which you can now save.
The other way is to open your facebook profile, and then tap on your profile photo, where you will see the same option Turn On Profile Picture Guard, which you can now select and then tap on the option to save to see the profile picture with the shield symbol, meaning that your profile picture has been saved with the guard. If you want to add a specific design to your picture guard, the option to do that will appear on your newsfeed just like the first method to add the profile picture guard described here. You will see the option Add A Design To Your Profile Picture on your newsfeed that you tap to be followed by Add Design. You can tap on this to be taken to a selection of design overlays and you can choose one from them. Once you have selected the design of your choice, you can click on Next to complete the process.
The new privacy options added to the Facebook site will not completely stamp out the misuse of profile pictures from the social media site, but they are a useful first step in securing personal information and pictures shared on the site. If the trial in India is deemed successful, we might see a more complete rolling out of these security features, including a more holistic set of security tools as well as availability for all users of the popular social networking site.
