Meta Backs Platform To Stop Sextortion Of Teens On FB, Instagram

Meta is taking steps to crack down on the spread of intimate images of teenagers on Facebook and Instagram, Samantha Murphy Kelly reported for CNN Business.

Photo Insert: To create a hash of an explicit image, a teen can visit the website TakeItDown.NCMEC.org to install software onto their device.

A new tool called Take It Down takes aim at a practice commonly referred to as “revenge porn,” where someone posts an explicit picture of an individual without their consent to publicly embarrass or cause them distress.

The practice has skyrocketed in the last few years on social media, particularly among young boys.

Take It Down, which is operated and run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), will allow minors for the first time to anonymously attach a hash – or digital fingerprint – to intimate images or videos directly from their own devices, without having to upload them to the new platform.

To create a hash of an explicit image, a teen can visit the website TakeItDown.NCMEC.org to install software onto their device.

The anonymized number, not the image, will then be stored in a database linked to Meta so that if the photo is ever posted to Facebook or Instagram, it will be matched against the original, reviewed and potentially removed.

“This issue has been incredibly important to Meta for a very, very long time because the damage done is quite severe in the context of teens or adults,” said Antigone Davis, Meta’s global safety director.

“It can do damage to their reputation and familial relationships and puts them in a very vulnerable position. It’s important that we find tools like this to help them regain control of what can be a very difficult and devastating situation.”

The tool works for any image shared across Facebook and Instagram, including Messenger and direct messages, as long as the pictures are unencrypted.

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