Meta Tests New Auto-Blur Tool and Other Features on Instagram Designed to Fight Sextortion

Meta is testing new tools on its Instagram platform to combat teen sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur photos containing nudity in direct messages.

The social media company announced in a blog post Thursday that new features, including auto-blur technology, are part of a campaign to combat sex scams and make it harder for criminals to contact teens.

“This feature is designed to not only protect people from seeing unwanted nudity in their DMs, but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick people into sending their own images in return,” the company said.

Meta also owns Facebook and WhatsApp, but the nudity blurring feature will not be added to these platforms.

Sexual extortion, or sextortion, happens when one person coerces another into sending explicit photos of themselves and then threatens to make those images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors. A recent case involves two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the sexual extortion of teenage boys across the country, including a 17-year-old in Michigan who took his own life.

In another case, a 28-year-old former Virginia sheriff posed as a teenager online to obtain nude photos of a 15-year-old girl in California, whom he sexually extorted and kidnapped at gunpoint after driving across the country, killing his mother and grandparents and burning down his house.

Sextortion has become such an important issue that the FBI in January warned parents to monitor their children’s online activity amid rising number of cases.

Meta said on its blog that scammers often use direct messages to request “intimate images.” To combat this, the social media giant will soon begin testing a nudity protection feature in Instagram DMs that blurs images containing nudity and prompts users to reconsider.

The feature will be enabled globally by default for teens under 18. Adult users will receive a notification encouraging them to activate it.

In addition to the automatic blurring of images, a warning will appear giving the user the option of whether or not to view the image. They will also have the option to block the sender and report the chat.

For users who send direct messages with nudity, a message will appear on the screen reminding them to be cautious when sending “sensitive photos”. They will also be told that they can unsubscribe the photos if they change their mind, but that there is a chance that other people have already seen them.

To prevent scammers and sexual predators from connecting with young people, the company says it is also expanding current restrictions, including not displaying the “message” button on a teen’s profile for potential sextortion accounts, even if the two accounts are connected. .

Children’s advocates applauded Meta’s decision on Thursday, saying the resources introduced appear encouraging.

“We are hopeful that these new measures will increase child reporting and reduce the circulation of online child exploitation,” said John Shehan, senior vice president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, on the Meta blog.