Instagram, the social network operated by Facebook parent company Meta, has been found to be a conduit for pedophiles and other perverted sexual predators메이저사이트, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported today. The network’s accounts serve to promote pornographic content featuring minors.
The WSJ explained that the research, conducted in collaboration with Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, found that while Instagram does not directly transmit files of illegal content, its algorithms allow it to search for hashtags containing words such as “child prostitution,” “teen sex,” and “pedophilia,” among others.
The recommendation system and algorithm, which connects users with shared interests, connects pedophiles and directs them to content sellers. The accounts often claimed to be run by minors and used explicit sexual language, according to the researchers.
Instagram accounts offering to sell illegal pornography also don’t post the pornography openly, but instead post a “menu” of content. The menu includes prices for images of children and sex acts, and offers to meet in person for the right price.
“We have formed an internal task force to address the issue,” Meta said, “Child exploitation is a horrific crime and we continue to investigate ways to stop it.”
In the past two years, Meta has reportedly taken down 27 pedophile networks and blocked thousands of hashtags that sexually degrade children, and in January alone, it identified and removed 490,000 accounts that violated its rules. Instagram, which is used by 1.3 billion people, is especially popular among young people, including teens.