Facebook on Thursday announced that it was piloting new tools to give Indians more control over their profile pictures. In a statement, the social media giant said that in addition to letting Indians control who can download and share their profile pictures, it is exploring ways to allow users to add designs to the photos more easily to “deter misuse”.

The company said “not everyone feels safe adding a profile picture”, and that some women in India have chosen “not to share profile pictures that include their faces anywhere on the internet because they’re concerned about what may happen to their photos”. New tools are also being developed to enhance safety through partnerships with Indian organisations, including the Centre for Social Research, Learning Links Foundation, Breakthrough and Youth Ki Awaaz.

For this, Facebook will introduce a step-by-step guide to add an optional profile picture guard. When this guard is added, other users will no longer be able to download, share or send profile pictures in a message on Facebook. Those not on users’ friend list will not be able to tag anyone, including themselves, in their photo. A blue border and a shield around the picture will signify that it is protected.

New designs for profile pictures

Facebook also said that its research showed when a user adds an extra design layer to their profile picture, people are 75% less likely to download it. Thus, it has partnered with Indian illustrator Jessica Singh to create designs for people to add to their profile picture. In case users suspect that their profile pictures marked with a design are being misused, they can report it to Facebook, and the design may be removed.