Meta expands tools to help teens avoid getting trapped in sextortion scams
Technology
Tools will accessible to millions more teens around the world
(Web Desk) - Meta said Tuesday it is expanding support to help teen social media users avoid getting trapped in “sextortion” scams – just one week after Senate lawmakers blasted Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg on Capitol Hill for failing to stop a nationwide “crisis.”
Zuckerberg has faced intense scrutiny over Meta’s alleged role in the rise of financial “sextortion” scams, where criminals trick kids into sending sexually explicit photos or videos and then threaten to release them unless they pay.
Now, the embattled Facebook and Instagram parent company said it has expanded access to a tool called “Take It Down,” which will be available in 25 languages, according to the announcement.
Meta said the expansion would make the tool “accessible to millions more teens around the world.” Nevertheless, critics weren’t impressed.
“We’re not particularly interested in the empty promises of a company that until recently basically told users on Instagram, ‘Click here if you’d like to see child porn,'” said Josh Golin, executive director at the online safety advocate Fairplay.”
“What we need is for Congress to put an end to Meta’s disastrous self-regulation and pass the Kids Online Safety Act, which would address not only sextortion but a wide range of serious and even fatal harms that young people experience online.”
Developed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the tool allows users to anonymously add a digital “fingerprint” to sexually explicit photos. Once added, the “fingerprint” can be used to track and quickly remove copies of intimate images to stop them from spreading, according to Meta.
Meta also said it worked with nonprofit Thorn to “develop updated guidance for teens on how to take back control if someone is sextorting them.”
The additions to Meta’s “Safety Center” also include guides for parents and teachers on how to provide support for impacted teens.
A page in Meta’s safety center gives teens advice, titled “five ways to respond to sextortion.”
It includes urging them to “stop responding and do not pay,” and “talk to someone you trust, like a close friend, teacher or parent” if faced with sex-related scam, among other tips.
