Oct. 17 (Portaltic/EP) –
instagram has introduced new features designed to increase the security of users on the social network, with which will avoid threats of ‘sextortion’ and scamsusing tools designed to prevent taking screenshots of ephemeral images shared via direct messages.
‘Sextortion’ or sexual extortion is a term associated with a practice that consists of threatening people with revealing intimate images in which they appear, to force them to do something they do not want to do.
The social network owned by Meta presented in April of this year some tools specifically designed to protect users from this type of practicesas well as other abuses that are carried out through the sending of intimate images in direct messages, in addition to helping to detect possible scams.
At that time, it announced some features such as ability to blur images in which nudity is detectedso that the recipient can choose whether they want to see the photo or not. Likewise, a warning notification also began to be displayed for Remind users to be careful when sending sensitive photos.
IT WILL PREVENT TAKING SCREENSHOTS OF EPHEMERAL IMAGES
Now, Instagram has implemented new security tools with which it will continue to expand the protection of users on the social network against sexual extortion, making “the success of the criminals who practice it even more difficult.”
In this sense, Currently, the social network allows you to take screenshots of ephemeral images or videos. that are sent through direct messages, although it later notifies users that their content has been captured by the recipient.
However, as the company has advanced in a communicated on his Meta blog, soon will stop allowing users to use their devices to take screenshots or record images or videos ephemera sent via direct messages.
That is, from now on, if a user receives a photo with ‘view once’ or ‘allow repeat’ functionyou will not be able to take a screenshot, so will avoid that content intended to be deleted after a period of time can be store and share later with other people.
Following this line, Instagram Nor will it allow you to open ephemeral images or videos in the web version of Instagramwith the goal of preventing users from bypassing screenshot prevention. With this, these types of images, which can only be viewed once, will only be available from the smartphone application.
The company also will implement the nudity protection function globally, mentioned above and presented in April. This function, which will be activated by default for adolescents under 18 years of age, blur images that contain nudity when sent or received through Instagram direct messages.
ACCOUNTS IDENTIFIED AS FRAUDULENT
On the other hand, Meta has also pointed out that the accounts showing signs of “potentially fraudulent” behavior, It will be more difficult for them to request to follow teenagers. This is because Instagram will completely block the tracking request or send it to the spam folder of the adolescent.
Instagram has announced that accounts that show signs of fraudulent behavior They will not be able to see people’s followers or followed lists either.. This eliminates your ability to use your targets’ follower lists to blackmail them. These potential extortionists They will also not be able to see the accounts that users have likednor the photos in which they have been tagged.
With all this, Meta has indicated that They are constantly working to “improve the techniques” they use to identify scammers“delete their accounts and prevent them from coming back.” To define what type of accounts have fraudulent behavior, or practice ‘sextortion’, the social network will be based on questions such as the age of the account. If it is a very new profile, it will be more likely to be identified as fraudulent.
Likewise, when Meta experts observe behavioral patterns in sexual extortion attempts, They train their technology to recognize them in the future. In this way, they can quickly find ‘sextortion’ accounts and act against them, as well as make progress in detecting scammers, whether new or recurring.
Meta has noted that these new security features are add to Teen Accounts presented last September, with which it will offer teenagers integrated protections that limit issues such as who can talk to them, the content they can see and the time they spend online.
These teenage accounts for Instagram They will reach users in the European Union at the end of this year 2024, and will be available globally from January 2025.
‘SEXTORSION’ ACCOUNTS DELETED
The company has also pointed out some of the measures it has taken against accounts of criminals dedicated to sexual extortion. In this regard, he has shared that he has removed about 1,600 Facebook groups and accounts that were affiliated with Yahoo Boys and they were trying to organize, recruit and train new scammers.
“While we’ve been removing offending Yahoo Boys accounts for years, we’re putting in place new processes that will allow us to identify and delete these accounts more quickly,” Meta has added.
Thus, the technology company has indicated that they will continue developing defense methods to protect your community from malicious actors dedicated to ‘sextortion’including options to stop scammers from reaching their targets and help teens and their families recognize these scams early.
Add Comment