Instagram to protect users from lewd DMs with THIS feature

New Delhi: Instagram is developing a new security feature that will shield users from receiving sexually explicit photos in their inboxes. According to The Verge, the "Nudity Protection" feature will work to weed out instances of online harassment known as "cyberflashing."

In recent days, there has been a significant increase in cyber-flashing incidents, which involve sending uninvited sexual messages to strangers, often women. This new feature will attempt to address this threat by empowering users to automatically filter direct message requests that contain offensive content. According to the report, Meta will use machine learning to help people protect themselves from nude photos and other unwanted messages.

Meta developer Alessandro Pauzzi also shared an early look at the new feature on Twitter. He shared a screenshot of the potential feature in a tweet, writing, “Instagram is working on nudity protection for chats. This technology covers photos that may contain nudity in chats. Instagram CAN’T access photos.”

A Meta spokesperson confirmed this, telling The Verge that they are working closely with experts to ensure that these new features protect people's privacy while also giving them control over the communication they receive. According to the spokesperson, the technology will not allow Meta to view the actual messages or share them with third parties.

Meta added that the feature is still in the works and that once released, users will be able to enable and disable it as they see fit.

Recently, the Meta-owned messaging platform in India introduced controls for parents of underage users of its social media platform. This feature is now viewed as the next step in protecting users' privacy and safety.

This feature will be added to the already existing Hidden Words feature, which was introduced in 2021. Users can automatically filter objectionable words, phrases, and emoticons into a protected folder using the Hidden Words function. This tool even filters out DM requests that are most likely spam.