Supreme Court Ruling on Social Media, Spike in Sextortion Targeting Teen Boys, and AI-powered Scams

Much of the news trending this week revolved around sextortion. We’re seeing an increase in these schemes, particularly targeting teen boys, as AI is facilitating these tactics and tricking many into falling for scams.

Read on to learn more about sextortion and all the other top safe-tech headlines from the last week.

Surge in Sextortion Schemes Targeting Teen Boys

A report by NCMEC and Thorn highlights an increase in financial sextortion schemes targeting teenage boys on social media, demanding money with threats of exposing compromising images.

Incidents have significantly increased, with over 26,700 reports in 2023.

The perpetrators often use catfishing and deepfakes, and operate globally — particularly from Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire.

Who is being targeted most by sextortion on social media? The answer may surprise you | USA Today

Snapchat Enhances Safety Features to Combat Sextortion

Snapchat is implementing new safety features to prevent sextortion by limiting teens’ interactions with unknown users.

The platform will now display pop-up alerts to teens if they receive a message form a user reported by others or located in an unfamiliar region relative to the teen’s contacts.

Snapchat is rolling out new safety tools aimed at protecting teens from sextortion | CNN

State AGs Take on Meta Over Child Safety

State attorneys general are suing Meta, accusing it of prioritizing user engagement over child safety on Instagram and Facebook. 

They allege Meta misled the public about risks to young users despite internal warnings.

Legal actions seek to enforce stronger protections amid rising concerns over online harm and regulatory scrutiny.

How Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Failed Children on Safety, States Say | The New York Times

Supreme Court Says Government Can Police Social Media Misinformation

In a 6-3 decision led by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Biden administration’s efforts to urge social media platforms to remove misinformation. 

This upholds government discretion to alert platforms about suspect content, despite claims of coercion. 

The decision avoids First Amendment scrutiny, marking a crucial win for the administration before the election.

Supreme Court allows White House to press social media companies to remove disinformation | CNN

The Evolving Threat of AI-Powered Scammers

Scammers are becoming more sophisticated.

AI is allowing them to craft convincing messages and mimic voices to exploit personal data and create realistic fraud attempts, bypassing traditional scam indicators. 

Financial losses from AI-driven scams reached $10 billion in 2023.

AI Is Helping Scammers Outsmart You – and Your Bank | The Wall Street Journal

TikTok is the New Recruitment Channel for Rebels

In Colombia, TikTok has become a recruitment tool for guerilla fighters.

The group’s pro-guerilla behavior has become normalized, with young people disappearing and reappearing in TikTok videos dressed as fighters.

The Colombian Ombudsman’s Office reports that at least 184 young people were recruited by the guerilla groups in 2023, and 159 enlisted in 2024, so far.

The schoolchildren being lured by rebels on TikTok | BBC

Other Headlines

• Do You Want Your Teen to Be Emotionally Healthy? | Psychology Today

• Dead in 6 hours: How Nigerian sextortion scammers targeted my son | BBC

• Pornhub to block five more states over age verification laws | The Verge

• FBI director urges Nigeria to do more to combat the rise of sextortion | NPR

• Today’s Teenagers Have Invented a Language That Captures the World Perfectly | The New York Times

• Social Media Broke Slang. Now We All Speak Phone. | The Atlantic

Did we miss anything?

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