Instagram is facing scrutiny over its newly introduced features designed to protect teenagers from sextortion attempts on the platform. Parent company Meta announced these enhancements on Thursday, highlighting measures such as preventing screenshots or screen recordings of disappearing images and videos. Meta claims these updates are part of its ongoing efforts to combat the manipulation of teens into sharing intimate images with scammers.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) acknowledged the new tools as a “step in the right direction,” but critics argue that more can be done. Arturo Béjar, a former Meta employee and whistleblower, expressed concern that Instagram could implement simpler methods to safeguard young users from unwanted contact. He suggested that enabling teenagers to easily report suspicious accounts posing as peers would be a more effective measure. “By the time they need to report for sextortion, the damage is already done,” Béjar told BBC News.
Meta countered these criticisms by stating that its tools, developed based on user feedback, provide clear ways for teens to report inappropriate behavior. The company also claimed to have mechanisms for flagging unwanted nude images and stressed that it is possible to report accounts impersonating teenagers through fraud or scam reporting options.
However, Richard Collard, the NSPCC’s associate head of child safety online policy, raised questions about why similar protective measures are not available across all Meta platforms, including WhatsApp, where sextortion and grooming also occur frequently.
Sextortion, defined as a scam where individuals are coerced into sending sexually explicit material and subsequently blackmailed, has surged on social media. Law enforcement agencies worldwide have reported a significant increase in such scams, particularly targeting teenage boys. The UK’s Internet Watch Foundation revealed that 91% of its sextortion reports in 2023 involved boys, highlighting the severity of the issue. The emotional toll on victims can be devastating, leading some to contemplate suicide, prompting calls from parents for social media firms to enhance protective measures.
Meta emphasized that its new safety features are designed to improve upon existing tools available to teens and their parents. Antigone Davis, Meta’s head of global safety, mentioned a campaign aimed at educating children and parents about recognizing sextortion attempts, particularly when perpetrators evade detection tools.
Instagram’s safety enhancements include concealing users’ follower and following lists from potential sextortion accounts and alerting teens if they interact with individuals in different countries. Furthermore, the platform has implemented “view once” and “allow replay” features for private messages, preventing screenshots of shared content. However, critics like Béjar warn that these features may create a false sense of security, as attackers could still capture images using separate devices.
While Meta has collaborated with child protection experts to establish nudity protections that educate rather than shame, some parents and experts feel that the responsibility for identifying and reporting threats has shifted onto them. Dame Melanie Dawes, the chief executive of the regulator Ofcom, emphasized that it is the responsibility of social media firms to ensure users’ safety online, particularly in light of the upcoming Online Safety Act implementation next year.
