Move FM Australian News

SYDNEY, Australia – In a bid to crack down on revenge porn, several cases of which continue to emerge on Facebook across the world – now the social networking giant is unveiling a new pilot program.

To test the new pilot program, which is set to be rolled out in Australia, Facebook has teamed up with the Australian Office of the eSafety Commissioner.

The new program comes months after Facebook announced a new set of reporting tools that included photo-matching technology.

In April, Facebook unveiled the machine-learning program, that it said prevents intimate photos from being uploaded again after they’ve already been reported and removed.

However, the pilot program announced on Friday takes things a step further.

The company said that the new program will prevent the photo from ever being shared in the first place.

Antigone Davis, Facebook’s head of global safety, said in a statement, “These tools, developed in partnership with global safety experts, are one example of how we’re using new technology to keep safe and prevent harm.”

The eSafety office files reports of people who are worried about a vengeful ex-sharing a nude photo, they first report the image to the eSafety office. 

The company explained that after this, the photo will have to be sent to themselves on Messenger – following which Facebook’s AI technology creates a “hash,” or digital footprint of the image. 

Therefore, if someone else tries to upload it later, the system immediately blocks it from being shared. 

According to the company, the “hash” technology is currently functional and helps prevent photos from being re-uploaded.

It is being used globally since April.

e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said victims of ‘image-based abuse’ would be able to take action before photos were posted to Facebook, Instagram or Messenger.

She also pointed out that one in five Australian women aged 18-45 and one in four Indigenous Australians are victims of that abuse.

Grant added, “We see many scenarios where maybe photos or videos were taken consensually at one point, but there was not any sort of consent to send the images or videos more broadly.”

Commenting the technology, Grant added, “It would be like sending yourself your image in an e-mail. But obviously this is a much safer, secure end-to-end way of sending the image without sending it through the ether.”

Davis meanwhile pointed out, “On Facebook, non-consensual intimate images make up a small percentage of our overall reports. But we wanted to be an industry leader because of the devastating impact of these images.”

Facebook has said that the image itself is not stored in the system – but it is only the image’s file composition, or ‘DNA.’ 

If there is a hacking attempt, a user’s photos cannot be accessed since they’re not stored as an image.

Facebook said that while the program has initially been rolled out in Australia, it will eventually be rolled out in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.