Instagram tests tool to protect minors from ‘sextortion’

Paris. Meta announced this Thursday new tools, based on artificial intelligence, to protect minors from “Sextortion” and the abuse of intimate images on Instagram.

“We are testing new features to help protect young people from Sextortion and abuse of intimate images, and to make it more difficult for potential scammers and criminals to find and interact with teens,” the company said.

Specifically, the American giant will introduce a function, which will be activated by default for those under 18 years of age, that will automatically detect nude images received through the application’s messaging and blur them.

“In this way, the recipient is not exposed in an unwanted way to intimate content and has the option of whether or not to see the image,” he explained to Afp Capucine Tuffier, head of child protection at Meta France.

Messages will also be sent to raise awareness among users about blackmail with sexual photos, also known as Sextortionreminding them to be cautious when sending sensitive photos.

“The goal is to reduce the creation and sending of these types of images,” Tuffier said.

These new measures will be tested starting in May in a handful of countries in Central and Latin America, before being rolled out worldwide in the coming months.

“Machine learning”

Meta noted that these updates “build on the work we have been doing for many years to help protect young people from unwanted or potentially harmful contact.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s company noted that “machine learning,” a type of artificial intelligence, will be used to analyze whether an image sent in a message on Instagram contains nudity.

The firm, which is regularly accused of violating the privacy of its users’ data, stressed that it will not have access to the images unless users report them.

Meta also indicated that it will use artificial intelligence to help identify accounts that could be participating in scams. Sextortion and will restrict the interactions of these accounts with those of minors.

These accounts will not be able, for example, to send private messages to a minor’s account, they will not have access to the latter’s complete list of followers and minors’ accounts will not appear in the search bar, Tuffier explained.

The company will also alert young users that they may have been approached by potential blackmailers and direct them to experts or helplines.