Because Facebook is clearly concerned with user privacy, it’s partnered up with crowdsourced reputation management service Web Of Trust today in order give its population of almost 700 million users protection from links deemed “risky” by the Web Of Trust community.
As of today, if a user clicks on a link with a poor Web of Trust reputation rating, they will see the above warning telling them that the link has been classified as abusive. And then they can either circumvent the link, learn more about the Web of Trust rating or continue browsing.
“Facebook users are passing around links that can disrupt the system, and Facebook is very aware that users are experiencing the effect of opening spammy links, stuff like ‘You just won a prize.’ We are the first of a number of security companies that Facebook is partnering with because people are much more aware of [and concerned about] their privacy these days,” Web Of Trust marketing manager Deborah Salmi told me.
Through the multi browser Web of Trust extension, the Web of Trust community has now classified five million sites as untrustworthy, fraudulent, responsible for phishing or other unsavory behavior. Users who want to see the Web of Trust reputation rating off of Facebook, on Google search results, Twitter links and shortened URLs can download the Web of Trust extension here.