The platform takes decisive steps to protect potential victims.
In recent years, so-called “sextortion” (mostly sexual blackmail in Hungarian), a form of online crime in which criminals force someone to share sexually explicit images or videos, has become an increasingly pressing problem. These contents are then used to extort additional sexual services or money from the victims.
Criminals usually threaten to release the obtained material or send it to family members and friends of the victims if their demands are not met. Sexual extortion most often begins through social media, where perpetrators use false identities to build a relationship of trust with their victims.
Instagram wants to prevent such and similar cases, within the framework of a dedicated campaign. The purpose of the social site is to make it more difficult to commit sexual abuse, while also drawing the attention of teenagers and parents to the problem.
In order to curb sexual extortion, Instagram is now introducing several new features, primarily aimed at identifying and blocking fake accounts. Victims will be able to easily report problematic users as well as a for a free crisis line they can also turn to us for help at any time.
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, introduced enhanced privacy and parental controls for accounts of users under 18 last month. Part of this is that the so-called “Tini accounts” are automatically set to private, and the strictest filters are applied for sensitive content.
Instagram is also adding a new feature that detects accounts that are behaving suspiciously and automatically blocks or redirects follow requests from teenagers. Affected accounts will also not be able to see that person’s follow list, which could prevent them from using those connections for blackmail.
Instagram is also testing security notifications in private messages that inform users when the person they are talking to is in another country.
What is new is that screen recordings will also be limited. Users will not be able to take photos of images temporarily shared via private messages, nor will they be able to open them in a browser.
By default, users under the age of 18 will also not be able to immediately view nude images sent in messages. The photos will instead appear obscured, accompanied by a notification that warns of the risks of sending sensitive images. Instagram first tested the feature earlier this year, and it will soon be rolled out worldwide.
A Meta in his statement noted that it had recently removed more than 800 Facebook groups and 820 accounts linked to the Yahoo Boys, an international criminal group. The organization was engaged in the “training” of sexual extortionists, so the removal of these accounts was a serious step in curbing the activities of the criminal organization.
Source: www.pcwplus.hu
