A new platform called “Take It Down” promises sensory protection for minors on social media. This tool allows users to attach a digital fingerprint, called a hash value, to specific explicit images and videos on their devices. Many believe that when you post something on social media, such as a nude photo, it’s there forever. Take It Down will combat this issue for minors. So both children, and parents, can take back their peace of mind. Take It Down will not only help take down unfavorable images of minors, but prevent those images from ever being posted again in the future. It doesn’t matter if the minor themselves posted the content, or a third party. No matter how it got up on the internet, Take It Down is dedicated to protecting children and teens by removal and prevention of sexually explicit photos. 

Take It Down Is Already Taking Off

Major social media powerhouses have already publicly backed the new platform. A week after they launched their subscription program, Meta has rolled out more big news by today that they are amongst the founding members, as well as a financial supporter, of Take It Down. This is all thanks to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), who created the platform. NCMEC proclaims the platform will help, “combat child sexual exploitation and help kids remove their sexually explicit images from the internet.” Their Twitter page also notes that the service is 100% free.

It’s Not Just For Minors

According to Facebook’s statement, people of all ages can benefit from Take It Down. You do not necessarily have to be a minor to have your photo removed. The following people’s well-being can be aided by the platform:

• Minors (under the age of 18) that are worried their content has been or will be posted. 
• Parents, or trusted adults, on behalf of a minor.
• Adults who are worried about images that were taken of them when they were minors. 

For adults, images of when they were younger may still haunt them to this day. Maybe a photo that spread when they were a teen. With the launch of Take It Down, years of worry and pain may finally be relinquished. 

The First Step Of Many

Take It Down is one giant step in the right direction to put an end to “sextortion”. The definition of sextortion being “a form of online blackmail using nude images,” according to NCMEC. Since NCMEC’s creation of their CyberTipline, they’ve received over 262,573 reports of online enticement. Even more notable, those numbers are on the rise. According to NCMEC, the number of reports involving sextortion more than doubled between 2019 and 2021. With the creation of Take It Down, both Meta and NCMEC aim to give power and control back to victims of sextortion. 

The new platform is an answer to many children’s, teens’, and parents’ prayers. Still, even more can be done. Instagram seems to be dedicated to extending yet another lifevest to minors. Meta recently introduced some new features that, according to them, make it “more difficult for suspicious adults to interact with teens on Instagram.” Meaning these adults will no longer be able to see teen accounts when scrolling through the list of people who have liked a post or when looking at another account’s followers list. Instead of shining in plain sight, minors will be hidden from adults who Instagram deems as “suspicious”. They did not provide further detail into what qualifies an adult to be deemed suspicious. In addition, Meta vowed that, if a suspicious adult follows a teen account, Instagram will then send the teen in question a notification prompting them to review and remove the new follower. 

A Safer Future On Social

It’s no secret social media can be a scary, dangerous place. But with the launch of Take It Down, minors and parents can navigate their social media platforms knowing that they are backed with assurance that someone cares about the digital footprint they are (or preferably aren’t) leaving behind.