Sending nude photos via your phone is called cyber flashing. It is a form of digital sexual violence that is often downplayed. While campaigning for the act to be made illegal in the UK and US, dating app Bumble is trying to combat the violation on its app.
The artificial intelligence tool "Private Detector" was launched by Bumble in the year 2019.
The tool is being made available to the tech community.
The tool works exactly. When a lewd image has been sent, it's detected by the artificial intelligence. The user has the option to view, remove, or report the image after the photo is blurred. The launch of it was in response to the rise of cyber flashing.
A report from the UK government found that 76 percent of girls had received nude images. Almost half of those aged 18 to 24 have received a non-consensual sexual image, with 95 percent of people under the age of 44 in England and Wales saying more should be done to stop cyber flashing.
In order to combat the rise of this act of image-based sexual violence, OKCupid made all users take an anti-harassment pledge in order to prevent them from sending nude photos. A feature called "Nudity protection" is being worked on by the photo sharing website.
Other tech companies can make features of their own in the fight against abuse and harassment after Bumble made a version of Private Detector widely available.
The VP of member safety at Bumble said that open-sourced this feature is about remaining firm in their conviction that everyone deserves healthy and equitable relationships.
In the last few years, Bumble has been campaigning against cyber flashing in the U.S. The founder and CEO of the app helped pass a law in Texas to make non-consensual nude images a crime. Since then, the dating app has aided in the passage of similar bills in Virginia and California.
In March 2022, the government in England and Wales will make cyber flashing a criminal offence, with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison.
It is time for the tech community to do more in the fight against this violation.
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