Meta Launches New Features To Protect Young Users From ‘Sextortion’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Meta just launched a series of new features designed to aid in protecting young users from “sextortion.”

According to the FBI’s website, “sextortion” is “a term used to describe a crime in which an offender coerces a minor to create and send sexually explicit images or video.”

“After receiving the sexually explicit content from the child, the offender threatens to release that compromising material unless the victim produces additional explicit material,” they continued. “In these cases, the offenders are motivated by the sexual gratification they receive from the content.”

Instagram’s new features are designed to protect young users from this practice.

NBC reported that the photo-sharing app “will automatically block follow requests sent to teenage users from accounts that display certain ‘scammy behaviors,’” in addition to hiding “users’ following and follower lists from those accounts with the aim of preventing scammers from using these lists to blackmail their targets.”

“The social media platform is also launching a global rollout of its ‘nudity protection’ feature in Instagram direct messages, which blurs out any images that the platform detects as containing nudity,” the outlet continued. “Users sending or forwarding images with nudity detected will also be prompted to think twice. This feature will be automatically on for users under 18, according to Meta’s latest announcement.”

Meta also said they will be removing the ability to take screenshots or screen recordings of disappearing photos and videos sent through both Instagram and Facebook’s messaging features.

“We’re constantly working to improve the techniques we use to identify scammers, remove their accounts and stop them from coming back,” Meta said in a statement about the new features. “These updates represent a big step forward in our fight against sextortion scammers, and we’ll continue to evolve our defenses to help protect our community.”

Over the last few months, Instagram has been unveiling a series of features and updates designed to protect younger users.