Facebook, Instagram launch Take it Down to stop child and revenge porn

Meta has announced the launch of a global platform run by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) aimed at fighting the spread of intimate images of minors online.

Meta launches Take It Down, a platform that people can use to proactively prevent the sharing of intimate images or minors.

Parents, guardians, and people under 18 years can use the platform to address concerns about images shared without consent.

This means users will have the ability to mark intimate images or videos and use the mark to create a case for submission in order to have them taken down.

“The launch of the platform means Facebook and Instagram can now use hashes to scan and see if images or videos that match are coming onto their platforms. From there, we can remove images or videos that match that hash, stopping the spread of that content in its tracks,” Meta said.

The new platform, built with minors in mind is owned and operated by NCMEC.

How it works

The platform will enable people to generate a hash of the intimate images or videos privately and directly from their own devices, without having to upload their images or videos to the platform.

They can then create a case and submit those hashes securely to Take It Down.

This feature will allow users to flag as well as curb the spread of minor sensitive images.

The platform plans to put and end to the intimate image sharing of minor explicit content online.

This signals an end to that shared picture without consent including blackmail when perpetrators attempt to use the images as a threat for additional images.

Users can go to TakeItDown.NCMEC.org in order to submit a case.

This will mean the platform will allow users to search for their intimate images on participating apps.

Take It Down asssigns a unique hash value, or numerical code to their image or video privately and directly from their own device.

Once the user submits the hash to NCMEC, Facebook and Instagram can use the hashes to find any copies of the image or video to take it down.

In order for the platform to respect peoples privacy, Take It Down allows people to only submit a hash, rather than the intimate image or video itself.

Its the hash that turns images or videos into a code that can no longer be viewed but will produce a digital fingerprint which can aid in tracking any other copies.

Both Facebook and Instagram do not allow content or behaviour that exploits young people or could lead to sextortion.

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