Facebook Now Officially Supports Tor

Facebook has taken the unusual move of supporting Tor, the anonymising “dark web” service.

The social networking site was already accessible via Tor, however it wasn’t completely encrypted and some accounts accessed via the service were mistaken by Facebook’s servers for being hacked.

The site has now set up a separate URL to be used with Tor browsers, https://facebookcorewwwi.onion/, from which users can use the site “without losing the cryptographic protections” that the anonymising service provides, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

Now while it may seem odd that law-abiding Facebook would want to even be associated with a network that is quite often linked to illegal drugs and human trafficking, it may seem less odd to those in countries like China, North Korea and Iran who have either blocked or made efforts to block the site.

We’ve already seen in countless uprisings and protests how Facebook and other social networks can be used to rally people together, to organise protests and to bring social change. The addition of Tor support may well help these people get the vital access to communication they need.

Source: BBC News

Image: Simon at Pixabay