Instagram is not fighting enough to promote content for pedophiles – Kommersant
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Instagram algorithms (owned by Meta, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) promote content for pedophiles and a network for the sale of related videos and images. Prepared an investigation into this The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) with researchers from Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. They found numerous networks on Instagram linked to pedophile content that can be found by specific hashtags. In addition, the researchers concluded that Instagram algorithms promote accounts through which you can buy content of this kind.
The researchers created an account through which they went to several pages promoting content for pedophiles, after which they began to offer other such pages. In total, they found about 400 Instagram accounts selling similar content. At the same time, the prohibited content itself is not published in the service, which is used only to promote it. “Instagram is becoming a gateway to places on the internet where there is more overt child sexual abuse,” says Brian Levine, head of the UMass Rescue Lab, dedicated to combating online sexual exploitation of minors.
Meta acknowledged that the company may have difficulty detecting and blocking criminal content in a timely manner. The company noted that over the past two years they blocked 27 networks of pedophiles and are planning further actions. The company also said that in January alone it blocked 490,000 accounts that violated the service’s child and teen protection rules. In addition, following a request from WSJ Meta, it blocked thousands of hashtags associated with the distribution of such content and banned the recommendation of accounts and content that could potentially be directed at pedophiles.
“That a group of three restricted scientists was able to find such a huge network should cause concern to Meta. I hope the company further invests in people who will conduct investigations,” said Alex Stamos, head of the Stanford Internet Observatory, which studies the potentially negative impact of technology on society.
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