Meta touts new efforts to fight sextortion on social media

The parent company of Instagram and Facebook shared plans on Thursday to enact more features to protect minors who use its platforms. Users who do receive photos or videos will no longer be allowed to screenshot or record in-app without the sender’s consent or knowledge, Meta said. That programming will apply whether the sender allows the images to be replayed or marks them for one-time viewing only.

To protect against backdoor methods of screen capturing, users will also not be allowed to use web browsers to open photos and videos from chats, the company said. If one does try to screenshot or record timed content in-app, all that will show is a blacked-out screen saying the content cannot be captured. The feature applies to all timed content sent in private cuts regardless of what the image or video shows.

Whatever happened to the project it announced in the spring? The tech giant will also officially implement a nudity protection feature tested earlier this year. Globally, meta users under 18 will automatically have a nudity blur feature enacted to detect and shield intimate pictures sent between users. The feature will also caution people against sending nude images with an option to retract them. The company is also offering confidential mental health support from a Crisis Text Line for users who report sextortion-related issues.

What is sextortion? Scammers on social media have been known to send nude images to other users, hoping to trick people into sending their own images. Scammers then use those sensitive images against users as leverage to extort money or more illicit content, according to the FBI. 

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD Magazine about a teen boy who committed suicide as a result of sextortion.