Instagram announced that it will soon start blurring images detected as nudity as part of the platform's way to protect people from unwanted nudity and sexual extortion.
The nudity protection will be turned on by default for teen users or those who are under 18 years old globally.
Instagram to Implement Stricter Teen Protection Protocols
In a blog post, the social media platform shared that the nudity protection feature is part of its existing campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of teenage abuse that are often related to nudity. The new features aim to strengthen Instagram's teen protection against scammers and criminals who target teens online.
"The 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," the platform wrote.
Instagram has also enabled by default stricter message settings so that teens cannot receive messages from anyone they are not already connected to. Safety notices are also implemented to help teens report DMs from potential scam accounts.
How Instagram Nudity Protection Works
Once the nudity protection is on, people will start seeing a reminder for sending sensitive photos and how they can unsend photos if they have changed their minds. Moreover, forwarding a nude image will also prompt a warning with a message to be responsible for what you share online.
The recipient of the nude image will be automatically blurred under a warning screen. Instagram will also show a message to not feel any pressure to respond, along with an option to block the sender and report the chat.
Meta also assured its users that images are analyzed within the device and that the feature will work in end-to-end encrypted chats, hence, the company will not have access to the images unless it is reported.
Instagram also partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to develop a platform that will help young people take back control of their intimate images and prevent them from being shared online.
