Facebook starts rolling out https for all users

Melanie Gross
Nov 19, 2012
Updated • Jan 4, 2018
Companies, Facebook
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Facebook back in 2011 introduced an option under Account Security that allowed you to enable https whenever possible on the site. The feature back then was an optional one, and users of the social networking site were not required to log in or use the site via https up until now. Enabling https on the other hand improves security, especially when connecting from public networks such as airports, public Internet terminals or open wireless networks, and it was only a matter of time before the security feature became mandatory on Facebook.

Facebook a few days ago announced the roll out of https for all of its users. It will be a gradual roll out starting for users in North America before the rest of the world will receive the same treatment. Roll outs have already started for North American users who should now see https and a closed lock or similar symbol in front of the Facebook address when they connect to the social networking site.

Users from other parts of the world may not see that happening right now., but it is likely that roll outs will complete in the coming weeks for all users of the site.

If you are particularly concerned about security in that time, either make sure you always connect using https, or enable the secure browsing option in the Facebook options. To get there click on the down arrow icon on the right side of your user name and select Account Settings from the options. From here click on Security and then on Secure Browsing to display the option. You can alternatively open this link which takes you there directly.

facebook secure browsing

It is not really clear why the announcement has not been published on the official Facebook blog. It has only been posted on the Facebook Developers blog. While most users may not notice the subtle change at all, subtle in terms visibility when they connect to Facebook, it may cause some confusion for users who run into issues when they try to connect to the site but cannot for whatever technical reason. (thanks Ilev for the tip)

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Comments

  1. weprintdirectfhttp said on November 21, 2012 at 1:37 pm
    Reply

    Hi i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anyplace, when i read
    this piece of writing i thought i could also make comment
    due to this good post.

  2. Mountainking said on November 20, 2012 at 8:23 am
    Reply

    Seems I wont be able to sniff out dumb users accounts :)

  3. Paul(us) said on November 20, 2012 at 12:18 am
    Reply

    Yesterday Facebook https connection was already working in the Netherlands.

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