Instagram is being used by a network of child pornography distributors to commission and sell child sexual abuse material openly, according to a report.
The distributors use Instagram's algorithms and hashtag system to promote content to users, the Stanford Internet Observatory said in a report Wednesday. The posts themselves would not present direct images of child pornography but "content menus," which would offer links to websites that can be used to purchase the content, including Telegram groups and Discord servers. The distribution of child pornography violates most websites' terms of service and federal law.
SENATE AIMS TO NAVIGATE CONFLICT BETWEEN COPYRIGHT AND TRAINING AI
"Due to the widespread use of hashtags, relatively long life of seller accounts and, especially, the effective recommendation algorithm, Instagram serves as the key discovery mechanism" for this network, the Observatory said. Stanford estimates that the network had between 500 and 1,000 accounts.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, quickly acted after it was asked for comment by the Wall Street Journal. The social media company acknowledged flaws within its anti-child pornography enforcement operation and said it was creating an internal task force to look into these networks.
"Child exploitation is a horrific crime," the company said. "We're continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behavior."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Instagram has taken down 27 child pornography networks and intends to remove more, Meta said. It has also blocked thousands of hashtags used to sexualize children and restricted the platform from recommending search terms associated with sexual abuse.
Twitter is also a standard tool for promoting child pornography, Stanford said, but the platform is more aggressive in removing those accounts than Instagram. The response has reportedly improved from Twitter. The platform struggled to keep up with child pornography accounts, according to a February New York Times report testing the website's content moderation efforts.