Facebook and Instagram introduce new measures for profiles with large audiences

Facebook has been at the center of multiple controversies this year. The social network has faced criticism for allowing Kremlin-linked parties to leverage its platform and influence users. Now, as the U.S. mid-terms approach, Facebook is launching a new feature which would make it harder for Pages to operate with the same degree of opacity that allowed the earlier manipulation.

Facebook explained the rationale behind these new measures, saying:

Our goal is to prevent organizations and individuals from creating accounts that mislead people about who they are or what they"re doing, These updates are part of our continued efforts to increase authenticity and transparency of Pages on our platform.

To this end, Facebook"s authorization process imposes two new requirements on Page managers, rolling out first to those with large US audiences. The first requires people who manage Pages to enable two-factor authentication which provides enhanced security should the username and password of a managing account be compromised. The second requests that those same managers confirm their primary home location which Facebook indicates would likely be done in combination with location services on their device of choice.

Facebook will then add a new section to pages known as "People Who Manage This Page". This will allow general users to see information about the Page managers at a glance including which country they have registered as their primary. Until posters fulfill these two requirements, Facebook will restrict them from publishing.

Facebook will start enforcing this process within the month, and it will introduce a similar one for Instagram "in the coming weeks".

Source: Facebook