The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to tighten regulations to prevent youths from sending naked selfies online to people they get to know through the internet, officials said Friday.

The metro government will amend its ordinance on youth development to allow authorities to take action when requests for such selfies are made.

If would be the first ordinance of its kind to take force in Japan.

With children using smartphones and the internet at earlier ages, the number of those threatened or tricked into sending naked selfies has climbed, leaving them open to blackmail.

An advisory panel to the metropolitan government will start discussing the ordinance amendment this month and issue a conclusion later this summer.