Meta teaching teens how to avoid sextortion when using social media

• Meta is collaborating with Childhelp to create and distribute free educational videos for teens and parents. The curriculum focuses on online exploitation, such as sextortion and grooming.
• It said safeguards are in place on its apps to remove scammers from its platforms.
• The company faces criticism from child safety advocates who argue more effective federal regulation is needed to protect children.

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America’s top resource for locating missing and exploited children is sounding the alarm: sextortion is on the rise. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), along with other experts, is teaming up with Meta, the world’s largest social media platform, to educate families.

Meta’s partnership with Childhelp

Meta announced Tuesday, Feb. 11, that it’s collaborating with the nonprofit organization Childhelp to launch a series of educational videos aimed at teens and their parents. The videos focus on raising awareness about online exploitation, including sextortion and grooming.

The curriculum is free and available to anyone who teaches, mentors or cares for children. The initiative is backed by research from NCMEC and other leaders in the field, aiming to help prevent further incidents of online abuse.

How are children targeted online?

Experts warn that predators frequently target kids through popular social media apps like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Predators use manipulation, false promises and deceit to coax young people into sharing explicit images.

Once these images are exchanged, the predator often threatens to post them unless the child continues sending sexual content or pays money to keep the pictures private.

Meta says they are committed to safety

Meta’s global head of safety, Antigone Davis, expressed the company’s commitment to protecting young users.

“We continue to do all we can to protect young people on our apps, and those protections will be even more effective if teens also feel confident in spotting potential harms and know where to go for help,” Davis said.

What do opponents say?

Despite these efforts, critics argue Meta has not done enough to protect children online. Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay for Kids, criticized Meta’s approach in a statement to Straight Arrow News.

“If Meta knows how to spot child predators, it should remove them from its platforms, instead of asking children to keep its platforms safe … This announcement is just another cynical ploy by Meta to stall the legislation that families need to keep our kids safe online. An educational curriculum cannot take the place of federal regulation.”

Josh Golin, executive director of FairPlay for Kids

The federal regulation in question is the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill that has stalled in Congress for years. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a vocal advocate for child safety online, has vowed to reintroduce the bill in this congressional session.

Social media CEOS meet with senators

A year ago, social media CEOs, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, faced intense scrutiny at a congressional hearing focused on child online safety. Senators questioned them over their failure to protect children on their platforms, with some even demanding apologies from the executives to families who lost kids to their platforms.

Meta’s ongoing efforts

In the months following the hearing, Meta launched a public service announcement campaign focused on sextortion. The new educational curriculum builds on those efforts, further spotlighting the dangers of online crimes targeting young people.

According to Meta, they are actively removing scammers when detected and alerting users who may have interacted with these profiles. The company also provides warnings when explicit images are sent through direct messages, reminding users of the risks.