Instagram adds features to help stop sextortion

Instagram volition halt radical from being capable to screenshot oregon screen-record images and videos intended to beryllium viewed once, arsenic portion of "ongoing efforts" to forestall sextortion connected the platform.

Its genitor institution Meta announced features connected Thursday aimed astatine protecting teens from being tricked into sending intimate images to scammers and blackmailed implicit them.

Previously tested tools that blur nude images successful messages, and hiding the follower and pursuing lists of users from imaginable sextortion accounts, volition besides beryllium made permanent.

It comes arsenic the UK's communications watchdog Ofcom warns that societal media companies volition look fines if they neglect to support children safe.

The NSPCC said the moves were a "step successful the close direction".

But Richard Collard, its subordinate caput of kid information online policy, said that "questions stay arsenic to wherefore Meta are not rolling retired akin protections connected each their products, including connected WhatsApp wherever grooming and sextortion besides instrumentality spot astatine scale".

Law enforcement agencies astir the satellite person reported a emergence successful the fig of sextortion scams taking spot crossed societal media platforms, with these often targeting teenage boys.

The UK's Internet Watch Foundation said successful March that 91% of the sextortion reports it received successful 2023 related to boys.

New tools volition see preventing the quality to screenshot images and videos sent successful Instagram messages with its "view once" oregon "allow replay" mechanisms - which tin beryllium selected by users erstwhile sending an representation oregon video successful Direct Messages. This volition besides use to the web mentation of Instagram.

Antigone Davis, Meta’s caput of planetary safety, said a caller Instagram run aims to springiness children and parents accusation astir however to spot sextortion attempts successful lawsuit perpetrators evade its tools for detecting them.

"We person enactment successful built-in protections truthful that parents bash not person to bash a happening to effort and support their teens," she told BBC News.

"That said, this is the benignant of adversarial transgression wherever immoderate protections we enactment successful place, these extortion scammers are going to effort and get astir them."

Sextortion, which sees scammers instrumentality radical into sending sexually explicit worldly earlier blackmailing them, has go a ascendant signifier of intimate representation maltreatment taking spot online.

The shame, accent and isolation felt by victims of sextortion crimes, often harassed and told their images volition beryllium shared publically if they bash not wage blackmailers, has led immoderate to instrumentality their ain lives.

Ros Dowey, the parent of 16-year-old Murray Dowey, who took his ain beingness successful 2023 aft being targeted by a sextortion pack connected Instagram, previously told the BBC that Meta was not doing "nearly capable to safeguard and support our children erstwhile they usage their platforms".

Meta said its caller information features and run are designed to physique connected tools already disposable to teens and parents connected the platform.

It volition besides fell people's follower and pursuing lists from imaginable sextortion accounts.

Sextortion adept Paul Raffile told the BBC successful May that sextorters effort to find teen accounts successful pursuing and follower lists aft searching for precocious schools and younker sports teams connected platforms.

Meta is presently moving under-18s into Teen Account experiences connected Instagram with stricter settings turned connected by default – with parental supervision required for younger teens to crook them off.

But immoderate parents and experts person said platforms’ information controls for teen accounts displacement the work of spotting and reporting imaginable threats onto them.

Dame Melanie Dawes, the main enforcement of the regulator Ofcom, told the BBC said it was the work of the firms - not parents oregon children - to marque definite radical were harmless online up of the implementation of the Online Safety Act adjacent year.