Meta has introduced new safety measures aimed at protecting users, especially young people, from “sextortion” and intimate image abuse.
These features include a nudity filter called Nudity Protection in Instagram’s Direct Messages, which automatically blurs images containing nudity for users under 18, according to Meta’s blog post.
Users will also receive messages discouraging them from feeling pressured to respond to nude images, with options to block the sender and report the chat.
Additionally, senders of such images will be prompted to be cautious and given the option to retract them. The filter operates using on-device machine learning, ensuring privacy in end-to-end encrypted chats.
Meta is also testing detection technology to identify accounts involved in sextortion scams, routing messages from suspicious accounts to a hidden requests folder and limiting their interactions with users, particularly minors.
For younger users, suspicious accounts will be prevented from messaging them and may be hidden from follower lists.
Meta is also considering implementing pop-up messages to direct users who have interacted with such accounts to support resources.
