Users Need To Activate ‘Facebook Protect’ Before Accounts Are Blocked

Facebook Protect emphasises on human rights activists and journalists as they are more likely to be targeted by hackers, especially during election.

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Have any of you received a Facebook Protect notification?

Facebook Protect is a new security initiative by Meta to promote two-factor authentication among users and enhance the security of users’ accounts.

Accordingly, it is a protection program for groups of people who are more likely to be targeted by malicious hackers.

The target group include human rights defenders, journalists and government officials.

Facebook also created the program to deal with additional threats during an election period.

Facebook Protect helps candidates, their campaigns and elected officials adopt stronger account security protections, like two-factor authentication and monitor for potential hacking threats.

Facebook Wants Users To Take It Seriously

Perhaps many people would think it’s spam and ignore the notice.

However, some users are reported to have been logged out of Facebook and unable to access their accounts.

Accordingly, the move to lock the account or activate Facebook Protect can prevent identity theft schemes and cryptocurrency fraud by hackers.

This initiative was first launched last year and continues to this day.

The emphasis is on Facebook users who have a lot of followers, operate an important Facebook Page or have community interest.

How to Activate it?

In activating Facebook Protect, you only need to do two things;

Use complex passwords and
Perform two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA means your username and password are not enough to log in to Facebook. You’ll also need to enter a verification code from your mobile phone. These can be generated by apps like Google Authenticator or they can send you a code.

This is a protection measure to keep your account more secure and protected from hackers.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a Facebook ploy to steal more of your data.

Meta’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher has shared that they will continue to improve the notification process to avoid recurring confusion.

Facebook – which had been ‘blamed’ for campaign ads supposedly influenced the 2016 U.S. presidential election – will also continue to expand this feature to more users.

Now the security feature is available to more than 50 countries.

1/ We continue to roll out Facebook Protect (now in 50+ countries), our security program that includes mandatory 2FA for people who are most likely to be targeted by malicious hackers: activists, journalists, political campaigns, etc.🧵
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) March 19, 2022