Meta unveils new protections aimed to prevent sextortion for teen Instagram accounts

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- There's been a big push this year from parents to protect kids on social media and now META is revealing some new safety features on Instagram to prevent sextortion.

According to the FBI, we've seen a rise in financial sextortion scams since the pandemic, when online predators coerce victims into sharing intimate pictures or videos and then demand money to keep those images private.

In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's cyber tip line received 26,718 sextortion reports. That number jumped from 10,731 reports the year before.

Action News spoke with Ravi Sinha, Meta's Head of Child Safety Policy about these new in-app protections for teens and young adults.

"We know that these sextortion scammers use friends and follower lists as a means to threaten teens and young adults, essentially saying I'm going to share these images with friends and followers so we're not making those lists available," said Sinha.

Meta will also notify the teen if they're chatting with someone from another country, because they say scammers will pose as a student from the town over to ingratiate themselves to potential targets.

Also, no more screenshotting private pictures in DMs. If a teen sends a photo to someone that they only want viewed once, the person receiving that photo can no longer screenshot the image.

Meta says parents must get involved and talk with their kids about these scams. They encourage parents to make their kids feel comfortable sharing any and everything that happens in their lives.