B次元官网网址淥nce you send that photo, you canB次元官网网址檛 take it back,B次元官网网址� goes the warning to teenagers, often ignoring the reality that many teens send explicit images of themselves under duress, or without understanding the consequences.
A new online tool aims to give some control back to teens, or people who were once teens, and take down explicit images and videos of themselves from the internet.
Called Take It Down, the tool is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and funded in part by Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram.
The site lets anyone anonymously B次元官网网址� and without uploading any actual images B次元官网网址� create what is essentially a digital fingerprint of the image. This fingerprint (a unique set of numbers called a B次元官网网址渉ashB次元官网网址�) then goes into a database and the tech companies that have agreed to participate in the project remove the images from their services.
Now, the caveats. The participating platforms are, as of Monday, MetaB次元官网网址檚 Facebook and Instagram, Yubo, OnlyFans and Pornhub, owned by Mindgeek. If the image is on another site, or if it is sent in an encrypted platform such as WhatsApp, it will not be taken down.
In addition, if someone alters the original image B次元官网网址� for instance, cropping it, adding an emoji or turning it into a meme B次元官网网址� it becomes a new image and thus need a new hash. Images that are visually similar B次元官网网址� such as the same photo with and without an Instagram filter, will have similar hashes, differing in just one character.
B次元官网网址淭ake It Down is made specifically for people who have an image that they have reason to believe is already out on the Web somewhere, or that it could be,B次元官网网址� said Gavin Portnoy, a spokesman for the NCMEC. B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e a teen and youB次元官网网址檙e dating someone and you share the image. Or somebody extorted you and they said, `if you donB次元官网网址檛 give me an image, or another image of you, IB次元官网网址檓 going to do X, Y, Z.B次元官网网址滲次元官网网址�
Portnoy said teens may feel more comfortable going to a site than to involve law enforcement, which wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be anonymous, for one.
B次元官网网址淭o a teen who doesnB次元官网网址檛 want that level of involvement, they just want to know that itB次元官网网址檚 taken down, this is a big deal for them,B次元官网网址� he said. NCMEC is seeing an increase in reports of online exploitation of children. The nonprofitB次元官网网址檚 CyberTipline received 29.3 million reports in 2021, up 35% from 2020.
Meta, back when it was still Facebook, attempted to create a similar tool, although for adults, back in 2017. It didnB次元官网网址檛 go over well because the site asked people to, basically, send their (encrypted) nudes to Facebook B次元官网网址� not the most trusted company even in 2017. The company tested out the service in Australia for a brief period, but didnB次元官网网址檛 expand it to other countries.
But in that time, online sexual extortion and exploitation has only gotten worse, for children and teens as well as for adults. Many tech companies already use this hash system to share, take down and report to law enforcement images of child sexual abuse. Portnoy said the goal is to have more companies sign up.
B次元官网网址淲e never had anyone say no,B次元官网网址� he said.
Twitter and TikTok so far have not committed to the project. Neither company immediately respond to a message for comment Sunday.
Antigone Davis, MetaB次元官网网址檚 global head of safety, said Take It Down is one of many tools the company uses to address child abuse and exploitation on its platforms.
B次元官网网址淚n addition to supporting the development of this tool and having, reporting and blocking systems on our on our platform, we also do a number of different things to try to prevent these kinds of situations from happening in the first place. So, for example, we donB次元官网网址檛 allow unconnected adults to message minors,B次元官网网址� she said.
The site works with real as well as artificial intelligence-generated images and B次元官网网址渄eepfakes,B次元官网网址� Davis said. Deepfakes are created to look like real, actual people saying or doing things they didnB次元官网网址檛 actually do.
B次元官网网址� Barbara Ortutay, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
