Meta Tests Pornographically Loaded Message Blocking Feature On Instagram

Illustration of the Instagram display (photo: x @metanewsroom)

JAKARTA - Meta Platform Inc., the parent company of Instagram, announced on Thursday 11 April that the platform will test a feature that blurs messages containing nudity or pornography to protect teens and prevent fraudsters from reaching them. This is done, as an effort to ease concerns over malicious content in its app.

The tech company is facing increasing pressure in the United States and Europe on charges that its apps are addictive and have exacerbated mental health problems among young people.

Meta states that the protection feature for Instagram's direct messages will use machine learning on devices to analyze whether images sent via the service contain nudities.

The feature will be enabled by default for users under 18 years of age, and Meta will tell adults to push them to activate it.

"Because the image is analyzed on the device itself, the protection of the nudity will also function in end-to-end encrypted chats, where Meta will not have access to those images - unless someone chooses to report them to us," Meta said.

Unlike Meta's Messenger and WhatsApp apps, direct messages on Instagram are not encrypted, but the company has said it plans to implement encryption for the service.

Meta also said that it is developing technology to help identify accounts that may be involved in a sextortion scam scheme and that they are testing new pop-up messages for users who may have interacted with those accounts.

In January, the social media giant announced that it would hide more certain content from teens on Facebook and Instagram, adding that this would make it more difficult for them to find sensitive content such as suicide, self-injury, and eating disorders.

Attorney generals from 33 US states, including California and New York, sued the company in October, stating that Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms.

In Europe, the European Commission has been asking for information on how Meta protects children from illegal and harmful content.