Posted on 06/12/2023 5:54:05 AM PDT by Twotone
Instagram’s recommendation algorithms linked and even promoted a “vast pedophile network” that advertised the sale of illicit “child-sex material” on the platform, according to the findings of an alarming report Wednesday.
Instagram allowed users to search by hashtags related to child-sex abuse, including graphic terms such as #pedowhore, #preteensex, #pedobait and #mnsfw — the latter an acronym meaning “minors not safe for work,” researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst told the Wall Street Journal.
The hashtags directed users to accounts that purportedly offered to sell pedophilic materials via “menus” of content, including videos of children harming themselves or committing acts of bestiality, the researchers said.
Some accounts allowed buyers to “commission specific acts” or arrange “meet ups,” the Journal said.
Sarah Adams, a Canadian social media influencer and activist who calls out online child exploitation, told the Journal she was affected by Instagram’s recommendation algorithm.
Adams said one of her followers flagged a distressing Instagram account in February called “incest toddlers,” which had an array of “pro-incest memes.” The mother of two said she interacted with the page only long enough to report it to Instagram.
After the brief interaction, Adams said she learned from concerned followers that Instagram had begun recommending the “incest toddlers” account to users who visited her page.
Meta confirmed to the Journal that the “incest toddler” account violated its policies.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Totally sick/evil. And they’ll probably face no charges for anything. God help us.
On one hand, if instagram is anything like twitter was before elon got there, they probably employ hundreds of people who should have been able to figure out how to block or censor hashtags like these. Shame on them for not doing so. The probably did a good job of censoring certain political or social topics, like anti vax hashtags for example...?
On the other hand, I don’t know about the internal mechanics of these platforms, but it looks like these headlines and articles are being disingenuous in a way. The ‘algorithms’ simply filter content based on what peoples interests and patterns have set. The algorithms don’t know that they shouldn’t be allowing certain interests unless the programmers and administrators specifically block them, but the article makes it sound like instagram was intentionally promoting these specific topics or themes.
As you say, they should be able to block certain stuff. The fact that they aren’t doing so would be, in a way, promoting it. The CEO’s should be charged with sex crimes against minors if they fail to do something about these things.
Sounds like an undercover sting operation.
Sickos deserve it.
SPJNK.
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