In news– Recently, Meta’s oversight board has suggested Facebook and Instagram to make strict doxxing rules.
What is Doxxing & what are the suggestions?
- Doxxing is publishing and analysing others’ personal information on the internet with a malicious intent that can reveal the person’s real identity making them victims of harassments and cyber attacks.
- Doxxing can result in emotional distress, loss of employment and even physical harm or death.
- The oversight board noted that publishing private or identifying information of an individual like their residential address and images on Meta’s platforms with malicious intent can lead to harassment or stalking.
- It recommended Meta to remove the exception that allows the sharing of private residential information when it is considered “publicly available.”
- It has asked the Facebook-parent to allow sharing of private residential addresses only when posted by the user to promote charitable causes, find missing people, animals, objects, or for contacting business service providers.
- By default, users should be considered not to have given such consent.
- Meta must ensure that users have a quick and effective mechanism to request the removal of private information posted by others.
- It has also highlighted the need to create a specific communications channel for victims of doxxing, easily available to both people who use Meta’s platforms and those who do not.
- This should allow the victim to explain their situation and the risks the illegally posted content creates for them, and prompt swift action from the company.
Note- Meta Platforms, Inc., doing business as Meta and formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is an American multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California. The company is the parent organization of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other subsidiaries.
Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/metaverse/
Source: The Hindu
