Meta To Auto-Blur Instagram Messages Containing Nudity (Image: Meta)
Meta will soon start testing its new nudity protection feature in Instagram direct messages. This feature will automatically blur images detected as containing nudity. On Thursday, the social media giant announced that the latest safety feature will be turned on by default for teens under 18 globally. Other users will receive a notification encouraging them to turn the feature on.
Meta made this move with the aim of safeguarding young people from unwanted nudity or sextortion scams. The tech giant also claimed that the nudity protection feature in Instagram DMs is designed not only to protect people from seeing unwanted nudity but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick others into sending their own images in return.
This development comes as various social media platforms are facing severe criticism for not implementing enough measures to protect young people. In February, tech leader Mark Zuckerberg apologised to families whose children had died following sexual exploitation or harassment via social media. On that occasion, parents said that their children were victims of predators facilitated by social media.
When the nudity protection is turned on, users sending images containing nudity will see a message reminding them to be cautious when sending sensitive images. Notably, it will also remind such users that they can unsend these photos if they have changed their mind.
“Anyone who tries to forward a nude image they’ve received will see a message encouraging them to reconsider,” said Meta in a blog post on April 11. Meanwhile, when a user receives an image containing nudity, it will be automatically blurred under a warning screen. “We’ll also show them a message encouraging them not to feel pressure to respond, with an option to block the sender and report the chat,” added the company.
The social networking company also claims that this feature uses on-device machine learning to analyse whether an image sent in an Instagram DM contains nudity. Thus, it will work in end-to-end encrypted chats. Meta, which also owns WhatsApp and Facebook, said that they are also working on developing technology to help identify where accounts may potentially be engaging in sextortion scams.
