Meta expands 'Take It Down' programme to help teens fight sextortion

NEW DELHI: Meta (formerly Facebook) has worked with the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to expand the 'Take It Down' programme to more countries and languages to help millions of teens combat sextortion.

"Take It Down is a programme designed to help teens take back control of their intimate images and help prevent people -- whether it’s scammers, ex-partners, or anyone else -- from spreading them online," Meta said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

First launched last year in English and Spanish, Meta and NCMEC have now expanded the platform to many more countries and languages. It is now available in 25 more languages.

The programme is now available in Hindi, Chinese, French, German, Icelandic, Portuguese, Urdu, Tagalog, Bengali, Thai, Arabic, Dutch, Tamil, Turkish, Italian, Khmer, Kurdish, Bahasa Indonesian, Malayalam, Marathi, Sinhalese, Vietnamese and Korean.

The platform is designed to assist individuals under the age of 18 who are concerned about their online content being posted or potentially being posted. It can also be used by parents or trusted adults to seek help for a young person.

Additionally, adults who are worried about images taken of them when they were under 18 can also use the platform.

The tech giant also mentioned that it 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 sextorting them.

It also includes advice for parents and teachers on how to support their teens or students if they’re affected by these scams.

These updates come after Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised to families at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on kids' online safety in the US.

When Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) pressed Zuckerberg to apologise to families who attended the hearing, calling attention to kids who were targeted by predators online, Zuckerberg offered his apology.