Too little, too late? Instagram begins blurring nudity in messages to protect teens and fight sexual extortion

Meta announced new measures on Instagram to protect minors from blackmail with intimate photos. — AP

LONDON: Instagram says it’s deploying new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages.

The social media platform said in a blog post April 11 that it’s testing out the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of “image abuse”, and to make it tougher for criminals to contact teens.