Meta has expanded its efforts to safeguard young people online, commencing testing on a range of new tools and features designed to combat sextortion and online intimate image abuse.

The new measures include nudity protection in Direct Messages (DMs), technology to prevent potential scammers from connecting with teens, new educational resources, and child safety helplines.

The nudity protection feature in DMs will blur out images detected as containing nudity and caution users before sending such images. Meta is also developing technology to identify accounts potentially engaging in sextortion scams. Message requests from these accounts will be directed to the recipient's hidden requests folder.

In addition, Meta is testing new pop-up messages for users who may have interacted with an account removed for sextortion. These messages will provide educational resources to help users understand the risks and how to protect themselves.

The company is also integrating new child safety helplines into its in-app reporting flows. When teens report issues such as nudity, threats to share private images, or sexual exploitation, they will be directed to local child safety helplines.

Meta’s Regional Policy Director, Mia Garlick, said: "We know that if a minor’s intimate image is seen by others, the experience can be traumatic, especially if it’s done in an exploitative context to blackmail you for money. These new measures - automatic nudity image detection and warnings, additional victim support and proactive interventions, will help to keep young people protected from these scammers."

She said Meta was doing everything it could to stop the "horrific scams". "We will continue to invest in tools and partnerships to support young people to know they can say no to sharing anything that makes them uncomfortable, and to provide resources should they find themselves in this situation."

These initiatives follow Meta's partnership with the Australian Federal Police-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), Kids Helpline, and US-based organisation NoFiltr, to educate young people about the dangers of online sextortion.

Meta also launched 'Take It Down', a global platform that helps young people take control of their intimate images and prevent them from being shared online.

"Equally, we continue to remain committed to working with our broader community and local law enforcement, including the Australian Federal Police, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, the Australian Centre for Combating Child Exploitation and local youth online safety partners, to remind young people of the dangers of sending online images of a sexual nature on Meta’s apps and across the internet," said Garlick.