Facebook to warn users of 'state-sponsored spies'
Blog: Facebook will send warnings to tell users whenever their government spies on their personal accounts, the corporation said. But is this merely a promotional tactic?
2 min read
21 Oct, 2015
Facebook has frequently been criticised over privacy concerns [Facebook]
Facebook has announced that it has started sending warnings to alert users whenever the government of their country "spies" on their personal accounts.
Starting from 16 October, a warning was sent to users whenever "state-sponsored actors" spy on them, the corporation said.
A message would appear whenever they log into their personal accounts that would inform them if Facebook believes they may have been "targeted or compromised by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation-state", according to a statement by Facebook.
The message will look like this:
"While we have always taken steps to secure accounts that we believe to have been compromised, we decided to show this additional warning if we have a strong suspicion that an attack could be government-sponsored. We do this because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others," said Facebook.
Facebook encourages users to change their passwords frequently and "take the actions necessary to secure all of their online accounts".
However, could this not be a ploy by Facebook to alleviate the privacy concerns of 1.49 billion monthly active users and assure advertisers that this number will not decrease in the foreseeable future?
Facebook has also been accused of sharing information taken from users' accounts with advertisers.
Starting from 16 October, a warning was sent to users whenever "state-sponsored actors" spy on them, the corporation said.
A message would appear whenever they log into their personal accounts that would inform them if Facebook believes they may have been "targeted or compromised by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation-state", according to a statement by Facebook.
The message will look like this:
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"While we have always taken steps to secure accounts that we believe to have been compromised, we decided to show this additional warning if we have a strong suspicion that an attack could be government-sponsored. We do this because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others," said Facebook.
Facebook encourages users to change their passwords frequently and "take the actions necessary to secure all of their online accounts".
However, could this not be a ploy by Facebook to alleviate the privacy concerns of 1.49 billion monthly active users and assure advertisers that this number will not decrease in the foreseeable future?
Facebook has also been accused of sharing information taken from users' accounts with advertisers.
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