Snapchat introduces new safety features to protect teens from sextortion
- Snapchat rolls out safety features aimed at shielding teens from sextortion.
- The safety tools make it harder for teenagers to be contacted by unknown individuals on the app.
- Rachel Hochhauser, Snap's head of safety operations outreach, discusses the new safety features aimed at addressing various forms of exploitation and harassment.
In a bid to enhance safety for teenagers on its platform, Snapchat has unveiled new features aimed at preventing sexual and financial exploitation, bullying, and harassment. The company's efforts are focused on thwarting scams like sextortion, where individuals manipulate young users into sending explicit photos and then demand payment to keep the images private. These new safety measures include warning pop-ups for messages from unfamiliar contacts, alerts for blocked or reported users, and restrictions on friend requests from suspicious accounts in scam-prone regions. Snapchat's Global Head of Platform Safety, Jacqueline Beauchere, emphasized that these features were designed to safeguard teens from online threats and strengthen genuine connections on the app. Law enforcement officials have raised concerns about the rise of online sextortion scams targeting children and teenagers, with some cases tragically resulting in suicides. Meta has also introduced similar features to combat sextortion, reflecting a broader industry effort to protect young users from exploitation. In addition to the safety enhancements, Snapchat has improved its blocking tools to prevent users from circumventing blocks by creating new accounts. The platform will now automatically block any new accounts created on the same device after a user has been blocked. Furthermore, Snapchat is implementing more frequent reminders for all users, including teens, regarding their location settings on the Snap Map feature, allowing users to customize their location sharing preferences and remove their location from the map. These updates complement Snapchat's existing safety features for teens, such as the Family Center for parental supervision and tools for removing age-inappropriate content. The company's proactive approach underscores the importance of prioritizing user safety, especially for young individuals vulnerable to online threats. Snapchat's commitment to enhancing safety measures reflects a broader industry trend towards protecting young users from exploitation and ensuring a secure online environment for all.