Instagram, the popular social media site owned by Meta Platforms, helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly dedicated to commissioning and purchasing minor sexual content, according to an investigation by researchers from The Wall Street Journal, Stanford University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Instagram, the popular social media site owned by Meta Platforms (META), helped Connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly dedicated to commissioning and purchasing minor sexual content.
Pedophiles have long used Instagram, but unlike forums and file-transfer services that cater to those interested in illegal content, Instagram doesn’t just allow these activities to exist on the platform. Its algorithms also facilitate these activities. The Wall Street Journal and academic researchers found that Instagram connected pedophiles and directed them to content sellers through recommender systems that excel at connecting people with special interests.
Even though the content is invisible to most users on the Instagram platform, these sexually-related accounts are blatantly interested in them. The researchers found that on Instagram, users were able to search for explicit hashtags such as #pedowhore, #preteensex and linked them to accounts that used those terms to promote the sale of child sexual content. The accounts often claim to be run by the children themselves and use overtly sexual language such as “your little slut” (little…
Instagram, the popular social media site owned by Meta Platforms (META), helped Connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly dedicated to commissioning and purchasing minor sexual content.
Pedophiles have long used Instagram, but unlike forums and file-transfer services that cater to those interested in illegal content, Instagram doesn’t just allow these activities to exist on the platform. Its algorithms also facilitate these activities. The Wall Street Journal and academic researchers found that Instagram connected pedophiles and directed them to content sellers through recommender systems that excel at connecting people with special interests.
Even though the content is invisible to most users on the Instagram platform, these sexually-related accounts are blatantly interested in them. The researchers found that on Instagram, users were able to search for explicit hashtags such as #pedowhore, #preteensex and linked them to accounts that used those terms to promote the sale of child sexual content. The accounts often claimed to be run by the children themselves and used overtly sexual language, such as “little slut for you.”
Instagram’s promotion of underage sexual content violates rules set by Meta and federal law.
In response to questions from The Wall Street Journal, Meta acknowledged problems with its execution and said it had formed an internal task force to address the issues raised. “Child (sexual) exploitation is a horrific crime,” the company said, adding that “we are constantly researching how we can actively prevent it”.