Instagram is testing nudity protection feature to protect teens

Instagram on Thursday announced that it’s working on some features to protect users against sextortion and intimate image abuse on the platform. One of the notable features that the company plans to test is the Nudity Protection feature in DMs. The feature will prompt users to think twice before sending nude images and blur any such images coming their way.

Instagram’s upcoming teen safety features

Meta’s blog revealed that the company is testing several useful features for teen safety.

“While people overwhelmingly use DMs to share what they low with their friends, family or favourite creators, sextortion scammers may also use private messages to share or ask for intimate images. To help address this, we’ll soon start testing our new nudity protection feature in Instagram DMs, which blurs images detected as containing nudity and encourages people to think twice before sending nude images.”

Instagram says that this feature will not only protect people from seeing unwanted nudity through pictures in DMs, but also protect them from scammers who may send them intimate images to trick people into sending their own nude photos in return.

“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.”

After the company completes testing the feature, it plans to turn it on by default for teens under 18. As for adults, they will receive a notification to turn the feature on to protect themselves.

Once the feature is turned on, Instagram users will receive a pop-up on the screen that prompts them to think twice before sending sensitive photos. The pop-up will also let them know that people sharing such images can screenshot or forward photos without them knowing.

Interestingly, not just the sender, but even those who plan to forward sensitive images will get a pop-up screen advising them to be responsible and respectful.

Now, that’s a good move by Instagram, as in the past, there had been several scenarios where people shared intimate images and were victims of abuse or sextortion.

Further, Instagram will go a step further and show a message encouraging users to not feel pressured to respond to the sender of such images. This way, the receiver of such sensitive images may decide to block them.

Moreover, Instagram will send prompts to users to let them know that they can report inappropriate messages. Such pop-ups will also include useful links to a range of resources such as support helplines and the Take It Down portal, which allows netizens under 18 years of age to take down their intimate photos, which may have been spread unknowingly.

Meta will be testing these tools before making them available. As for when will they be available, there’s no definite answer to that yet. But we should learn more about the same soon.