Instagram adds more guardrails to protect teens against sextortion

Instagram is launching several caller features designed to support teens from sextortion scams, which hap erstwhile scammers endanger to stock intimate images of victims unless they person a outgo oregon much photos.

One guardrail that’s rolling retired soon volition forestall radical from screenshotting oregon surface signaling disappearing images oregon videos sent successful a backstage message. If the sender enables replays of the representation oregon video, Instagram volition artifact radical from opening them connected the web. This won’t halt scammers from capturing the representation oregon video by signaling it with different device, however.

Starting today, Instagram volition statesman utilizing definite indicators, similar however caller an relationship is, to observe scammy behaviour arsenic well. The level volition past forestall these accounts from sending travel requests to teens by blocking their petition oregon moving it to the teen’s spam folder.

It’s besides investigating a information announcement successful Instagram and Messenger that volition alert teens if the idiosyncratic they’re talking to is located successful a antithetic country, arsenic sextortion scammers often prevarication astir their location.

In addition, Instagram volition present commencement blocking suspicious accounts from viewing the pursuing oregon followers lists of their victims, which sextortion scammers tin usage for blackmail. Instagram volition likewise forestall fishy accounts from seeing the lists of accounts that person liked a target’s posts, the photos they’re tagged in, and different users tagged successful their photos.

To support kids from viewing obscene photos, Instagram is launching a diagnostic that volition automatically observe and blur nude images for users nether 18. Instagram started investigating this filter successful April, and it volition beryllium enabled for teens globally by default. Other information measures coming to the level see an enactment to chat with the Crisis Text Line successful the US if users study sextortion oregon kid information issues. It volition besides amusement an acquisition video to teens successful the US, UK, Canada, and Australia to dispersed consciousness astir sextortion scams, which are connected the rise.

Other platforms, similar Snapchat, have taken steps to combat the scam by informing teens if they person a connection from an relationship that different users person blocked oregon reported.

This suite of features comes arsenic portion of Meta’s broader efforts to marque its platforms safer for kids. Last month, Instagram announced that it would commencement putting each teens into much backstage accounts with definite information settings enabled by default, similar restricted DMs and Sleep Mode to soundlessness notifications astatine nighttime.