Instagram announces new tools to fight sextortion and help teen victims

The swift rise of sextortion in the past year has put teens at a severe disadvantage against bad actors determined to blackmail them for money. On Thursday, Instagram responded to the ongoing crisis by launching a major campaign designed to prevent and thwart sextortion. The crime typically takes place on social media platforms, when an extortionist pressures a teen they’ve just contacted or befriended into sending explicit imagery of themselves. The criminal then frequently uses that content to demand money in exchange for keeping the images private. Sextortion has been linked to international criminal groups operating at scale and with speed. Some teen victims have died by suicide after being blackmailed. SEE ALSO: Parents need to talk to their kids about this online danger right now The Instagram campaign aims to make it more difficult for people to use the platform for sextortion while also educating teens and parents about the problem. It draws on insight from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Thorn, a nonprofit organization that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. The new features include efforts to detect and block “scammy” accounts, surfacing certain safety notices, and better secure ephemeral images or videos sent via private message. Victims who report problems related to sextortion or child safety will also see an option to connect with Crisis Text Line, which offers free crisis counseling. Online safety advocates applauded Instagram’s campaign against sextortion. “It’s a devastating threat – and joint initiatives like this that…Instagram announces new tools to fight sextortion and help teen victims