Instagram New Features to Protect Teens from Sextortion, Working on Social Library Feature

Highlights

• Instagram is rolling out new safety features to combat sextortion.
• New features include warnings and hiding follower lists to protect teenagers.
• Instagram is also developing a Social Library feature.

Instagram is one of the popular social media apps among teens around the world. The platform has often come under fire for teen safety with growing cases of crime reported including cases of sextortion.

Instagram has been taking steps to make the platform safer for teens by introducing parental guides and built-in protections. It is now being reported that the Meta-owned platform is rolling out more features to combat the growing problem of sextortion.

Sextortion is one of the serious crimes targeting teenagers on social media including Instagram. Criminals often create fake profiles and use pictures of teens. They befriend other teenagers using these profiles and gradually build relationships with victims. With time these criminal accounts manufacture conversations to become more sexual, which eventually leads to the sharing of intimate photos.

Once victims share their intimate photos with the criminal accounts, they are blackmailed with threats to expose these images unless they provide more explicit material.

This modus operandi is becoming increasingly common and has had devastating consequences including multiple cases of teen suicides.

“The dramatic rise in sextortion scams is taking a heavy toll on children and teens, with reports of online enticement increasing by over 300% from 2021 to 2023. Campaigns like this bring much-needed education to help families recognize these threats early. By equipping young people with knowledge and directing them to resources like NCMEC’s CyberTipline, and Take it Down, we can better protect them from falling victim to online exploitation.” – John Shehan, a Senior Vice President from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

According to a recent report in The Washington Post, Instagram is rolling out new measures to protect its young users. These include warnings about sextortion and changes that make it harder for criminals to share victims’ photos, such as hiding follower lists to reduce the chances of threats.

“Instagram is testing new safety notices in Instagram DM and Messenger to let teens know when they’re chatting with someone who may be in a different country.”

Instagram mentioned in its blog post, “Accounts we detect as showing signals of scammy behaviour won’t be able to see people’s followers or following lists, removing their ability to exploit this feature. These potential sextorters also won’t be able to see lists of accounts that have liked someone’s posts, photos they’ve been tagged in, or other accounts that have been tagged in their photos.”

“Instagram owner Meta says, with some organised groups working together to pressure teenagers into sharing nude photos. Meta said in a statement Thursday that the settings such as hiding teens’ follower lists from potential blackmailers make it harder for criminals to connect with young people on the photo-sharing app and give teens more resources to learn the signs of a sex scam,” mentions The Washington Post report.

The new safety features reflect Instagram’s ongoing efforts to ensure a safer environment for its community, especially for teenagers.

Instagram Working on New New Social Library Features

Meanwhile, it is also being reported that Instagram is working on a new feature called Social Library. The feature was recently discovered in the iOS beta version of the app.

According to developer Alessandro Paluzzi, this new feature is designed to help users easily find posts they have previously shared, liked or received through chat.

“Instagram is working on Social Library, a section where you can easily find posts, Reels, and media you’ve shared or received in chat threads, collections, and likes,” Paluzzi wrote on Threads.

The Verge in its recent report revealed that the feature is also expected to include a search function. This will make it more convenient for users to locate and manage their content.

“A magnifying glass in the corner of the screenshot suggests this content will be searchable, too, which could make it a lot easier to quickly find a Reel or post you’re looking for,” The Verge report reveals.

FAQs

Q1. What new safety measures is Instagram introducing to combat sextortion?

Answer. Instagram is rolling out warnings about sextortion and changes like hiding follower lists to make it harder for criminals to share victims’ photos.

Q2. How do criminals conduct sextortion on social media platforms like Instagram?

Answer. Criminals create fake profiles to befriend teens, build relationships, and eventually blackmail victims by threatening to expose shared intimate photos unless more explicit material is provided.

Q3. What is the new Instagram Social Library feature?

Answer. Instagram is working on a Social Library, a section where you can easily find posts, Reels, and media you’ve shared or received in chat threads, collections, and likes. The feature is expected to include a search function, making it more convenient for users to locate and manage their content.

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