Meta Takes a Stand Against Sextortion with New Protection and Prevention Measures

Meta, the digital giant, has announced its commitment to combating sextortion, a problem affecting numerous young people. The company has unveiled new measures that will be tested from May in some Latin American countries before being rolled out globally in the coming months.

Among the novelties is a "nudity controller" on Instagram, which will be set by default on minors' accounts. It will automatically detect nudity in images received through the app's messaging feature and blur them. Capucine Tuffier, in charge of child protection at Meta France, explains that this way, the recipient will not be unwillingly exposed to intimate content and will have the choice to view the image or not.

Meta will also send awareness messages to both the sender and receiver of images, reminding them that such sensitive content can lead to screenshots and transfers by malicious individuals. The goal is to reduce the creation and sharing of these types of images.

When an account is identified by Meta's artificial intelligence tools as potentially being the source of sextortion, its interactions with underage users will be severely limited. A potential "wrongdoer" account will not be able to send private messages to a minor's account, will not have access to their full list of followers, and minors' accounts will no longer appear in their search bar, details Capucine Tuffier.

Meta will also warn a young user if they have come into contact with a potential extortionist. The minor will then be directed to a dedicated "Stop Sextortion" website and will have access to a telephone helpline in partnership with associations.

Meta had already announced in January a first set of measures to better protect young users, such as the requirement for a minor user to obtain explicit parental permission to change their account from private to public, access more so-called "sensitive" content, or have the ability to receive messages from people they do not already follow on the platform. The European Commission has launched separate investigations into Meta, Snap (Snapchat), TikTok, and YouTube regarding the measures implemented to protect the "physical and mental health" of minors.