Meta Adds Privacy Features to Protect Users from Extortion and Scammers.

+ I want to learn more about VCs and Come talk to me

Hello everyone,

A quick little update post covering-

1. Meta has acted on our recommendations to protect teenagers from sextortion.

2. I’m looking to learn more about the world of Venture Capital, so I would love to talk to a few VCs.

3. 4-year retrospective on my writing journey.

Meta’s New Privacy Updates

Earlier this week, our article- “Why Morally Aligned LLMs Solve Nothing”- covered how Meta should be doing more to protect people (especially teenage boys) from sextortion and scammers. We detailed several changes that could be implemented very quickly and cheaply that would have significant results in stopping the blackmailers from causing mental anguish and even suicide in their victims.

Meta has acted on all the solutions presented. Going forward, we will have

1. Better Flagging for Potential Scammers- Meta will start using various signals to identify and flag accounts that might be blackmailers. “Now, we’re also making it harder for accounts showing signals of potentially scammy behavior to request to follow teens. Depending on the strength of these signals – which include how new an account is – we’ll either block the follow request completely, or send it to a teen’s spam folder. Sextortion scammers often misrepresent where they live to trick teens into trusting them. To help prevent this, we’re testing new safety notices in Instagram DM and Messenger to let teens know when they’re chatting with someone who may be in a different country.”

2. Limiting Access to Follower Lists- As we mentioned, scammers often use their target's following and follower lists to try and blackmail them. Removing access to this is a very simple, but extremely effective way to stop them- “Now, accounts we detect as showing signals of scammy behavior won’t be able to see people’s follower or following lists, removing their ability to exploit this feature. These potential sextorters also won’t be able to see lists of accounts that have liked someone’s posts, photos they’ve been tagged in, or other accounts that have been tagged in their photos.”

3. Stopping Screenshots- Another huge protection for the privacy and safety of the users, Meta won’t let people take screenshots of disappearing images. “Soon, we’ll no longer allow people to use their device to directly screenshot or screen record ephemeral images or videos sent in private messages. This means that if someone sends a photo or video in Instagram DM or Messenger using our ‘view once’ or ‘allow replay’ feature, they don’t need to worry about it being screenshotted or recorded in-app without their consent. We also won’t allow people to open ‘view once’ or ‘allow replay’ images or videos on Instagram web, to avoid them circumventing this screenshot prevention.” 

   

4. More Support for Victims- “We’re also partnering with Crisis Text Line in the US to provide people with free, 24/7, confidential mental health support when they need it. Now, when people report issues related to sextortion or child safety – such as nudity, threats to share private images or sexual exploitation or solicitation – they’ll see an option to chat live with a volunteer crisis counselor from Crisis Text Line.”

They’re also becoming more proactive about removing scammers, creating new educational materials, and more. You can read more- Our New Education Campaign to Help Protect Teens From Sextortion Scams.

These aren’t perfect, but they are extremely important first steps. And I’m proud to say that our cult has been a small part of this. I want to thank ALL of you that share this newsletter with your networks. Thanks to that, a small independent creator like me has reached some very prominent people in the space.

That being said, 99% of the credit should go to the activists who have been studying this field/pushing for safety (thanks to whom I learned about this topic in the first place) and the team at Meta for implementing these changes. Let’s continue to pursue this field, building tech platforms that benefit people first and foremost.

If you’re working on an important issue that you want to bring more awareness to, please don’t be hesitant to reach out. It would be my honor to help you in any little way that I can.

Onto the next update.

I’m looking to talk VCs

I’ve had a few conversations with people recently, and it’s convinced me to learn more about Venture Capital and how it works. It would help a lot with my end goals (having my own AI Lab focused on Open Research and developing tools to promote AI Transparency and Safety for critical fields like Law, Finance, Climate etc).

I’m not looking for a full-time job since I’m already working on very promising projects (an amazing Legal AI startup- Iqidis, this newsletter, and my consulting) with my complete commitment for the next few years. But in the longer run, having more inside perspective into how one of the most powerful groups in the world operates will be critical. Which is why I want to start gaining some exposure.

With my deep knowledge, refined communication skills, and strong network, I will be able to contribute across the board-

1. Sourcing- My work has about 150-200K views a week, many of whom are founders and prospective founders of future software/AI companies. I can help your firm find these guys directly, giving you a giant leg up in sourcing.

2. Due Diligence- I have deep technical knowledge, which allows me to parse through all the noise and identify solutions/techniques that work and which don’t. This will be key to due diligence, helping you identify winners and avoid losers.

3. Guidance- Given my insight (and my strong network of experts), I can help your portfolio companies find the best information/ways to handle challenges.

If this sounds interesting- please reach out. You can use my email- devansh@svam.com or hit me up on LinkedIn here.

If you want all my social media, you can find it here.

Excited to hear from you.

Our 4 Year Special

We’re coming up on 4 years since I decided to become more committed to the cult.

So much has changed about my life, and I never really expected this to work out in the way that it has (we’ve reached over 10 Million people overall and are only growing).

Before I get to writing that, I want to have a conversation with the people that really make this newsletter possible- the premium subscribers that have supported my writing to make it grow to where it is. I’m looking to understand who you are, how you found me, what you’re looking for etc.

So if you’re a paying subscriber, and have some time to talk-- please use the link below to book a time with me.

Talk soon. Dev <3