Meta today announced new measures to combat online exploitation for Safer Internet Day this year. These efforts aim to empower teens, parents, and educators, raise awareness, and provide resources to prevent sextortion.
Expansion of Take It Down Program
Take It Down, a collaborative program by NCMEC and Meta, aids teens in reclaiming control over their intimate images and preventing their online dissemination.
Initially available in English and Spanish, it now spans 25 languages, extending its reach to millions of teens globally.
- Users under 18, parents, or trusted adults can confidentially submit image hashes through TakeItDown.NCMEC.org to initiate takedown procedures.
- Respectful of privacy, the platform ensures that only numerical codes representing images are shared, not the images themselves.
- Meta collaborates with NCMEC to locate and remove copies of these images, mitigating threats of future exploitation.
New Resources to Combat Sextortion
Meta collaborates with Thorn to provide updated guidance for teens, parents, and teachers on combatting sextortion. These resources, available in the Sextortion hub within Meta’s Safety Center, offer advice and support.
Additionally, a global campaign, in partnership with safety organizations and creators, aims to raise awareness about these scams and preventive measures.
Protecting Teens on Meta Apps
Meta reinforces safety measures on its platforms to empower teens facing online exploitation:
- Safety Notices on Instagram alert users to potentially suspicious behavior and encourage reporting of accounts threatening to share private images.
- Integration of Take It Down into Facebook and Instagram guides teens in relevant situations, such as reporting image sharing or exploitation.
Strengthening Default Message Settings
Default privacy settings on Instagram protect underage users, including private account settings for those under 16 and message restrictions for minors under 18.
Stricter message settings ensure teens won’t receive messages from unknown users, enhancing protection against potential threats.
Announcing the updates, Meta posted:
On this Safer Internet Day, we recognize the devastating impact of having personal intimate images shared, particularly for young individuals. It’s even more distressing when individuals resort to threats of sharing such images unless demands for more photos, sexual contact, or money are met — a despicable act known as sextortion.
That’s why we’re unveiling new initiatives to combat this criminal activity. These efforts aim to empower more teens to control their intimate images, equip them, along with their parents and teachers, against exploitation, and extend support to creators and safety organizations worldwide through a global awareness campaign focused on preventing sextortion.