Facebook is reportedly readying itself to release a mobile app that will let using interact with one another while using fake names, according to the NY Times.
Since the establishment of the popular social networking site, users have been required to type in their real names to create their accounts.
Apparently, the aim of the app is to make Facebook users feel comfortable discussing or posting about sensitive topics without compromising their true identities.
If it pushes through, the app will certainly go against Facebook's strict policy about requiring people to use their real names. As the company's chief product officer Chris Cox explained, this policy was enacted to protect the users of the social networking site, Newsweek reported.
"First, it's part of what made Facebook special in the first place, by differentiating the service from the rest of the Internet where pseudonymity, anonymity or often random names were the social norm," he said.
"Second, it's the primary mechanism we have to protect millions of people every day, all around the world, from real harm," Cox added.
Despite Facebook's strong convictions about the policy, the social networking site recently issued an apology to users who were locked out of their accounts for using fake names.
In September, a group of transgender and drag queen performers launched a petition to urge Facebook to allow people like them to use stage or alternative names for their accounts.
"We owe you a better service and a better experience using Facebook, and we're going to fix the way this policy gets handled so everyone affected here can go back to using Facebook as you were," Cox wrote as part of the apology from the company.
Aside from serving as a possible response to this issue, the anonymity app may serve as Facebook's answer to Ello, a new rival social networking site that is already attracting tens of thousands of users, according to Telegraph.
Ello has gained the attention of people because for one, they are not required to use their real names in their accounts. More importantly, it promises not to sell the personal information of users to advertisers.
"Every post you share, every friend you make, and every link you follow is tracked, recorded, and converted into data," Ello stated. "Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads."
"You are the product that's bought and sold," it added. "We believe there is a better way."