BTA Admin A privacy-focused system backed by Meta, TikTok, X and other major technology companies is gaining attention as sextortion and image-based abuse cases rise sharply in Ghana and across the world.
A little-known digital safety tool is emerging as one of the most effective ways to stop intimate images from spreading online before they are uploaded, offering a rare form of prevention in a category of abuse that often becomes difficult to contain once content begins circulating.
The tool, called StopNCII (Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse), allows adults to create a secure digital fingerprint of intimate photos or videos on their own devices without uploading the actual content. If a matching image is later uploaded to a participating platform, the platform can detect the fingerprint and block the content from being shared.
Launched in 2021 by UK-based digital safety charity SWGfL (South West Grid for Learning), StopNCII has become one of the most widely recognised global tools for combating image-based abuse and sextortion.
A privacy-first approach
Unlike traditional reporting systems that require victims to submit intimate content for review, StopNCII uses perceptual hashing, a technology that generates a unique digital signature directly on the user’s device.
Only the hash is transmitted securely to participating technology companies. The original image or video never leaves the user’s phone or computer, significantly reducing privacy risks.
Users create a case through the platform, select the content they want to protect, generate the hash, and receive a case number and PIN that allows them to monitor or withdraw the case later.
If a participating platform detects a matching hash during an upload attempt, the content can be blocked before it spreads.
Backed by major technology companies
StopNCII is supported by a coalition of global technology companies, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, X, Snap, Microsoft Bing and OnlyFans.
By late 2025, the platform had been used to protect approximately 2 million images across more than 785,000 cases worldwide, according to SWGfL.
The initiative has also received recognition from regulators and international organisations, including the UK’s Ofcom and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which has identified it as a leading example of proactive prevention of non-consensual intimate image abuse.
Why it matters in Ghana
The tool is attracting increasing attention in Ghana as sextortion and online blackmail cases continue to rise.
According to the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), reported sextortion-related financial losses increased sharply between early 2024 and early 2025.
Between January and April 2024, the CSA recorded 155 reported cases involving financial losses of GH¢103,663.
During the same period in 2025, losses rose to GH¢499,044, highlighting the growing financial and psychological impact of online extortion schemes.
Cybercriminals increasingly use fake social media profiles, encrypted messaging applications and romance-based scams to obtain intimate photos or recordings from victims before demanding payment to prevent their release.
How sextortion typically works
CSA officials say perpetrators often create attractive fake online identities and gradually build trust with targets through social media or messaging platforms.
Victims may then be persuaded to participate in explicit video calls or share private images.
The material is secretly recorded or saved, after which criminals demand ransom payments, often through mobile money, while threatening to distribute the content publicly.
The Cyber Security Authority has repeatedly warned that paying the ransom rarely guarantees that the images will be deleted, and many victims are subjected to repeated demands even after making payments.
Prevention before publication
Digital safety experts say tools such as StopNCII are particularly valuable because they attempt to prevent distribution before intimate content appears online.
While the system cannot remove images from platforms that do not participate in the initiative, it can significantly reduce the likelihood that protected content will spread across many of the world’s largest social media and content-sharing networks.
As sextortion and image-based abuse become more sophisticated, StopNCII offers a rare preventive defence: a free, privacy-preserving system that allows adults to block intimate images from being shared across participating global platforms without ever uploading the images themselves.
