Meta supports new platform preventing spread of minors' intimate images online

Meta has helped to launch Take it Down, a new global platform created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to help prevent and combat the spread of young people's intimate images online.

The free service can help people remove or stop "the online sharing of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos" of a person under 18 years old. This can be used by minors, parents or other trusted adults on behalf of minors, as well as adults looking to remove images taken of them while they were minors.

NCMEC aims to prioritize privacy and data security through the process. Instead of submitting an intimate photograph or video, Take It Down will assign a unique hash value or numerical code privately from a person's own device. The hash can then be provided to NCMEC, and will be used to identify and locate any copies of the image, take them down, and prevent the spread of such material in the future. Previously, Facebook was flagged for having users upload their private images in order to help the company take them down.

Credit: Screenshot / Take It Down.

For the development of Take It Down, Meta lend support to NCMEC financially, in addition to integrating the platform on Facebook and Instagram for users to access more seamlessly.

Tech companies have been criticized for their failure to protect people from non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCII). This move from Meta builds on previous initiatives to combat such criticism. In December 2021, the company supported the fight against revenge porn, in association with UK-based StopNCII. Last year, Meta also announced new measures to protect teens from online harm, including privacy defaults and other safety tools.