Meta (formerly Facebook) has announced a new multi-pronged approach to combat sextortion, a growing threat targeting young adults and teens online.
The initiative includes an educational campaign to raise awareness of sextortion scams, empowering teens and parents to identify the dangers.
Additionally, Meta noted that new safety features will be added across its platforms to further prevent these crimes.
According to Meta, sextortion is a horrific crime where financially-driven scammers trick young people into sending intimate photos or videos, then threaten to expose them publicly unless they receive money or other favors.
Reports say that this can have a devastating impact on victims, causing emotional distress, shame, and even self-harm.
Empowering Teens and Parents
To combat this growing threat, Meta has partnered with leading child safety experts, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Thorn.
Together, they developed an educational video that helps teens recognize the red flags of sextortion scams.
These red flags include:
- Coming on too strong: Scammers may try to rush into a relationship or intimacy.
- Asking to trade photos: This is a clear sign of a potential scam.
- Moving the conversation: Scammers may try to lure teens away from secure platforms like Instagram to other unmonitored channels.
The education video further emphasizes that sextortion is never the victim’s fault and offers resources to help teens regain control.
These include access to:
- instagram.com/preventsextortion: A dedicated resource page with tips and support for teens affected by sextortion scams.
- NCMEC’s Take It Down Tool: A tool that helps teens report and remove intimate images from online circulation.
- Crisis Text Line Support (US): Confidential text-based crisis support for victims of sextortion and other forms of online abuse.
Meta Announces New Safety Features
In addition to the educational campaign, Meta is rolling out new safety features on its apps to further protect young people from sextortion scams.
These include:
- Hidden Follower Lists: Accounts flagged for potential scamming behavior will no longer be able to see a user’s follower or following lists, making it harder to exploit personal information.
- Disabling Screenshots in DMs: For certain types of images received in direct messages, Meta is testing the ability to prevent screenshots, potentially deterring scammers from requesting or receiving intimate photos.
- Global Nudity Protection: This feature, already available in some regions, is being rolled out globally. It automatically blurs potentially explicit images in DMs and warns users before sending sensitive content.
Meta noted that the educational video will be shown to millions of teens and young adults on Instagram in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia – countries known to be targeted by sextortion scammers.
“The dramatic rise in sextortion scams is taking a heavy toll on children and teens,” said John Shehan, a Senior Vice President from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.”
Mr Shehan added that “Campaigns like this bring much-needed education to help families recognize these threats early. By equipping young people with knowledge and directing them to resources like NCMEC’s CyberTipline, and Take it Down, we can better protect them from falling victim to online exploitation.”
Senior Manager at Thorn, Kelbi Schnabel noted that the company’s research has shown that sextortion is on the rise and poses an increasing risk to youth.
“It’s a devastating threat – and joint initiatives like this that aim to inform kids about the risks and empower them to take action are crucial.”