• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 5, 2017

Further positioning itself as a protector of basic liberties, Facebook just declared war on “revenge porn.” The social giant is rolling out some new tools to help users flag and remove such content when it is uploaded to its platform.

“When this content … is reported to us, we can now prevent it from being shared on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram,” Antigone Davis, Head of Global Safety at Facebook, notes in a new blog post.

If and when Facebook users see intimate images they suspect might have been shared without permission, they can use a “Report” link, which appears when they tap the downward arrow, or “…” next to a post.

Davis said trained representatives from Facebook’s Community Operations team will review the images and remove them if they are considering to be in violation of the social network’s Community Standards.

“In most cases, we will also disable the account for sharing intimate images without permission,” Davis added.

From there, Facebook uses photo-matching technologies to help thwart further attempts to share the image on its flagship platform, along with Messenger and Instagram.

Facebook also offers an appeals process if someone believes an image was taken down in error.

The tech titan partnered with several safety organizations to offer resources and support to the victims of revenge porn, which typically consists of pornographic photos or videos shared without the consent of all parties. The act of publicly sharing such content is often intended as a form of "revenge" between scorned lovers.     

Facebook partnered with the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and other companies to create a one-stop destination for victims and others to report this content to major technology companies.

Additional partners include the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the Center for Social Research, the Revenge Porn Helpline (UK), and the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.