London: Instagram on Thursday announced that it is testing features that blur messages containing nudity to safeguard teens from sexual extortion and prevent potential scammers from reaching them, as it tries to allay concerns over harmful content on its apps.
Instagram and other social media companies have faced growing criticism for not doing enough to protect young people. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Instagram's owner Meta Platforms, apologised to the parents of victims of such abuse during a Senate hearing earlier this year.
Nudity Protection in Instagram DMs
Instagram informed that the platform will soon start testing new nudity protection feature in Instagram DMs, which blurs images detected as containing nudity and encourages people to think twice before sending nude images. This feature is designed not only to protect people from seeing unwanted nudity in their DMs, but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick people into sending their own images in return.
For Teens Under 18
Nudity protection will be turned on by default for teens under 18 globally, and adults will be notified by the platform encouraging them to turn it on.
Caution Message
When nudity protection is turned on, people sending images containing nudity will see a message reminding them to be cautious when sending sensitive photos, and that they can unsend these photos if they’ve changed their mind.
Forwarding Nudity
Anyone who tries to forward a nude image they’ve received will see a message encouraging them to reconsider. When someone receives an image containing nudity, it will be automatically blurred under a warning screen, meaning the recipient isn’t confronted with a nude image and they can choose whether or not to view it.
Safety Tips
Instagram further informed that the users will be directed to safety tips while sending or receiving these images. The safety tips will be developed with guidance from experts, about the potential risks involved.
These tips include reminders that people may screenshot or forward images without your knowledge, that your relationship to the person may change in the future, and that you should review profiles carefully in case they’re not who they say they are.
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