Meta expands programme to combat Thai sextortion scams
BANGKOK: Facebook Thailand from Meta the rollout of the Take It Down programme in Thailand, helping teens take back control of their intimate imagery online.

The availability of the service in the Thai language is part of the worldwide expansion of the ‘Take It Down’ programme developed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and supported by Meta technology.

First launched in English and Spanish last year, this first-in-industry platform allows people to take down and prevent the spread of intimate images for people aged 18 and below and is now being expanded to cover 25 languages and multiple countries, making it accessible to millions of teens around the world, including in Thailand.

At the announcement and media briefing session held at Meta’s Thailand office, Malina Enlund, Meta’s APAC Safety Policy Manager, spoke on the company’s efforts to combat the crime of sextortion.

“For today’s internet users, having an intimate image shared with others can be devastating, especially for young people.

"This can become even worse when someone threatens to share the image if you don’t give them more photos, sexual contact, or money — a crime known as sextortion. As part of our commitment to the safety and well-being of its users, Meta has worked closely with numerous organizations and creators around the world to help teens take back control of their intimate images and prevent people, whether scammers, ex-partners, or anyone else, from spreading them online.

'The expansion of the Take It Down platform to Thailand is a significant step in our ongoing journey to ensure the safety and well-being of young people everywhere.”

At the event’s panel discussion titled ‘Helping Teens Avoid Sextortion’, it was revealed that according to Meta’s latest Community Standards Enforcement report, the company removed over 16 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content from Facebook and 2.1 million from Instagram globally between Oct-Dec 2023.

“Of the violating content related to child nudity and sexual exploitation, over 98% of the content we actioned before people reported it” added Enlund, Meta’s APAC Safety Policy Manager.

Joining the event and the panel discussion was Police Colonel Runglert Kantajan from TICAC (Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children) who stated that “Sexual abuse of young people remains a pervasive problem online. The Royal Thai Police is committed to tackling this issue with the utmost importance and urgency by relentlessly pursuing offenders. In 2023, we successfully prosecuted over 540 cases.

"However, given the widespread reach of the online world across all genders and ages, lawmakers, the private sector, and global platforms like Meta must work collaboratively to develop more effective and faster-integrated solutions to combat these crimes.”

"Sextortion is a form of child sexual abuse that is highly sensitive and has a devastating impact on the lives of the victims. The leaking of intimate images or videos online can cause them to experience major life crises. It is therefore imperative that the government and the private sector, especially social media platforms, work closely together to provide unwavering support in addressing this issue,” added Wirawan Mosby, Founder and Director of the HUG Project, one of Meta’s safety partners in Thailand.

How to use Take It Down

There are several ways people can use Take It Down to find and remove intimate imagery or help prevent people from sharing them in the first place. The program is freely available to:

● Young people under 18 who are worried their content has been, or maybe, posted online,

● Parents or trusted adults on behalf of a young person, or

● Adults who are concerned about images taken of them when they were under 18.

Take It Down was designed to respect young people’s privacy and data security. To start the process, people can go to TakeItDown.NCMEC.org and follow the instructions to assign a unique hash — a digital fingerprint in the form of a numerical code — to their image or video, privately and securely from their device.

Teens only need to submit the hash, rather than the intimate image or video itself, which never leaves their device. Once the hash has been submitted to NCMEC, companies like Meta can find copies of the image, take them down, and help prevent anyone who’s threatening them from posting them in future (see attached Fact Sheet).

The Take It Down awareness billboard above will be shown in the heart of Bangkok to raise awareness and is facilitated by VGI

The technology behind Take It Down builds off of the success of platforms like StopNCII (Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Images), which Meta launched in 2021 with more than 70 NGOs worldwide to help adults stop the spread of their intimate images online, a practice commonly referred to as ‘revenge porn’.

Even with new tools like Take It Down in place, becoming the victim of these crimes can be upsetting and isolating, particularly for young people who may feel too scared or ashamed to ask for help.

That’s why Meta has worked with Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse, to develop updated guidance for teens on how to take back control if someone is extorting them.

It also includes advice for parents and teachers on how to support their children or students if they’re affected by these scams. The new resources can be found in the updated Sextortion hub within Meta’s Safety Center and can be viewed in over 50 languages including Thai.

The announcement builds on the work Meta does to inform young people about the steps they can take if someone has shared, or is threatening to share, their intimate images.

In line with this, Meta has put in place Safety Notices on Instagram which will appear when people are messaging someone who has displayed potentially scammy or suspicious behaviours in the past. These Safety Notices urge people to be cautious, encouraging them to report any accounts that threaten to share their private images while reminding them that they can say no to anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.

Additionally, teens will be directed to the Take It Down platform at relevant moments when using Facebook and Instagram, such as if they report someone for sharing their private images for nudity or sexual exploitation.

Meta also works to help protect young people from receiving unwanted contact in the first place by defaulting anyone in Thailand under the age of 16 into private Instagram accounts when they sign up, which restricts who can see their posts, followers, and following lists.

In addition, restrictions have been placed on adults over 19 to prevent them from messaging minors who don’t follow them.

Last month, Meta also announced stricter default message settings, meaning teens under the age of 16 will not receive messages from anyone they don’t follow or aren’t already connected to, providing further protection against potential bad actors. - The Nation/ANN
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BANGKOK: Facebook Thailand from Meta the rollout of the Take It Down programme in Thailand, helping teens take back control of their intimate imagery online.