Protecting Teens: Meta’s New Tool to Block Nude Images in Private Messages

In a recent announcement, Meta, the parent company of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, has disclosed plans to introduce a new safety tool designed to protect adolescents from sending and receiving nude images in private messages. This tool, scheduled for release later this year, will be offered as an optional feature for both adolescents and adults on Instagram and Facebook.

The decision to implement this safety measure follows mounting concerns from government officials and law enforcement regarding Meta’s decision to encrypt Messenger chats by default. Critics contend that encryption could hinder the company’s ability to identify and report instances of child abuse.

In response to these criticisms, Meta asserts that the new feature is specifically tailored to safeguard users, particularly females and adolescents, from exposure to or coercion into sharing explicit images. It is important to note that individuals under the age of 13 are not authorized to utilize Meta’s platforms.

As part of its efforts to bolster safety, Meta has also declared that minors will be unable to receive messages from strangers on Instagram and Messenger by default. This measure is intended to provide an additional layer of protection for young users against unwelcome interactions.

This development follows a statement from police chiefs in England and Wales attributing the rise in sexual offences committed by children to the sharing of nude images. Furthermore, legal filings in a US lawsuit against Meta allege that around 100,000 teenage users of Facebook and Instagram face online sexual harassment on a daily basis.

Despite the introduction of this new safety tool, Meta continues to face criticism over its decision to implement end-to-end encryption, as it prevents the company from monitoring and reporting instances of child abuse material in messages. While some messaging apps such as Apple’s iMessage and WhatsApp, both of which are also owned by Meta, have defended this approach, critics argue that platforms should employ client-side scanning to detect illegal content being sent on encrypted apps.

In response, the NSPCC, a prominent children’s charity, has suggested that Meta’s new system could represent a reasonable compromise between user privacy and safety in encrypted environments. Meta has clarified that its new feature will not involve client-side scanning, as it believes this would undermine the privacy protections offered by encryption. Instead, the system will use machine learning to identify nudity, operating entirely on the user’s device.

According to Meta, using machine learning to detect child abuse is a complex task, fraught with the risk of errors and potential consequences for innocent users. The company has emphasized its commitment to implementing a variety of protective measures for children, without compromising user privacy. This includes systems to identify and restrict suspicious adult behaviour, as well as preventing adults from contacting minors by imposing limitations on their ability to message teenagers who do not follow them.

In addition to the new safety tool, Meta has launched more than 30 other features and resources aimed at enhancing child safety on its platforms. Moving forward, parents will have increased control over their teenagers’ safety settings, including the ability to reject requests for changes and adjustments.

These proactive measures from Meta underscore the company’s dedication to ensuring the safety and well-being of young users on its platforms, and it will be intriguing to observe the impact of these measures once they are implemented later this year.