In a critical move to safeguard young users, Instagram has announced the implementation of new tools to combat sexual extortion and other forms of image abuse on its platform.
The social media giant is taking swift action by introducing features such as automatically blurring nudity in direct messages, aiming to make it more difficult for criminals to target and exploit teenagers.
Recent high-profile cases have highlighted the devastating consequences of “sextortion.”
Two brothers in Nigeria pleaded guilty to sexually extorting teen boys and young men in Michigan, leading to the tragic death of one of their victims.
In another disturbing incident, a Virginia sheriff’s deputy sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl. These heart-wrenching stories underscore Instagram’s motive for acting.
Instagram, along with other social media companies, has faced intense scrutiny and criticism for failing to adequately protect young users. The pressure has been mounting, with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent company Meta, issuing an apology to the parents of victims during a Senate hearing earlier this year. It is clear that mere apologies are not enough; concrete actions must be taken to prevent further harm.
Meta also owns Facebook and WhatsApp but it, won’t blur nudity in messages sent on those platforms.
“The feature is designed not only to 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,” Instagram said.
Instagram will include the feature on all accounts for users under 18, and it will encourage adults to opt in.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.