Instagram is taking steps to combat financial sextortion, a troubling trend where scammers coerce teens into sending nude photos and then threaten to post them online unless they receive money or gift cards. The company plans to introduce new features such as blurring nude images sent in direct messages and notifying users when they’ve interacted with someone involved in financial sextortion. Instagram aims to raise awareness about this crime and provide tools to protect users, with a focus on preventing teens from becoming victims of sextortion.
The rise in financial sextortion cases, especially among teenagers, has prompted Instagram to develop these new safety features. The tools will initially be tested among a subset of users before rolling out to all users worldwide. Non-consensual sharing of nude images has long been a problem, with scammers increasingly targeting strangers online. The FBI has observed an increase in sextortion cases, some of which have tragically led to suicide. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, is determined to combat this issue and protect vulnerable individuals from falling victim to these crimes.
Meta’s latest tools are part of a broader effort to enhance safety on the platform, especially for teens. These tools supplement existing safety features, such as strict messaging settings and options to report abusive DMs. Last year, Meta collaborated with the NCMEC to develop Take It Down, a platform that helps young people remove explicit images from the internet. The company is also facing legal challenges related to the harm caused to young users by its platforms, including facilitating drug sales and exacerbating eating disorders and social media addictions.
The new nudity protection feature within Instagram’s direct messages aims to prevent the sharing of explicit images and educate users about the potential risks. The platform will blur explicit images and notify recipients about their content, reminding them that they don’t need to respond and offering the option to block the sender. This tool will be automatically enabled for teens under 18, with adult users encouraged to activate it. Meta’s technology uses machine learning to detect nudity in images, reinforcing its existing policies against explicit content on its platforms.
In addition to the nudity protection feature, Meta is working on ways to identify accounts involved in sextortion scams and prevent users from interacting with them. By detecting and monitoring suspicious behavior, such as sextortion attempts, the company aims to protect users from falling victim to these scams. Meta has also joined the Lantern program, which allows tech companies to share information about child safety violations. The integration of these sextortion prevention tools with the Lantern program will further enhance Instagram’s ability to detect and prevent harmful behavior on the platform.
Overall, Instagram’s efforts to combat financial sextortion and enhance user safety are crucial steps in addressing the growing threat of online scams targeting vulnerable individuals, especially teenagers. By raising awareness about these crimes and providing tools to protect users, Meta is demonstrating its commitment to creating a safer and more secure online environment. Parents are encouraged to educate themselves about these issues and to communicate openly with their children about the importance of reporting any suspicious or harmful activity on social media platforms.
