(The Hill) — Instagram has introduced a series of new safety features to prevent sextortion schemes, marking the platform’s latest effort to protect users, especially teenagers, from online harm.
The safety changes are part of a broader campaign by Instagram designed to help teenagers and parents more easily spot sextortion scams, the social media platform announced Thursday.
Sextortion occurs when a victim is coerced to provide sexually explicit photos or videos of themselves and threatened with them being shared publicly.
The actors behind these scams often try to deceive teens about where they live to build trust, Instagram noted.
To prevent this, Instagram will test new safety notices in its direct messages and Messenger, which will inform teen users if they are speaking with someone who may be located in a different country.
Sextortion scammers also can take advantage of a user’s following and follower list for blackmail. To counter this, Instagram said accounts suspected of this behavior will not be able to see others’ following and follower lists, or the accounts that have engaged in someone’s posts or accounts.
Users eventually will also no longer be able to screenshot or screen record images or videos sent in Instagram direct messages or Messenger without the person’s consent and awareness, and a nudity protection feature will also be enabled for all users under 18, Instagram said.
This will blur images featuring nudity and warn recipients before teenagers open the photo.
Users in the U.S. will also have access to a “Crisis Text Line” where they can chat live with a volunteer crisis counselor over Instagram direct messages or Messenger.
The changes come as Instagram and other social media platforms face mounting scrutiny from lawmakers and parents over social media’s impact on youth safety and mental health.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is facing dozens of lawsuits alleging the platforms were created to maximize young users’ time using features that may prompt mental health issues.
Instagram also announced an educational video campaign shared with millions of users in the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia, along with collaborations with popular celebrities, creators and parent creators.
The video will list signs of sextortion scams and “reassure” teenagers that these schemes are “never their fault,” according to the platform. It will also include steps for users to take to defend themselves against these schemes, according to Instagram.
The campaign follows Instagram’s work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Thorn, a nonprofit organization for defending children against sexual abuse.
It comes nearly a month after the platform rolled out “Instagram Teen Accounts,” with a host of changes for young users. The teen accounts are now private by default for all users younger than 18, who must manually accept new followers and can only be messaged, tagged or mentioned by people they follow.
