Instagram allowed users to search for sexually exploitative material involving children with certain hashtags, according to a bombshell investigation from The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The social media platform has connected users to a “vast pedophile network,” proven by test accounts that the researchers used to investigate the algorithm. The study showed that Instagram enabled accounts to search for hashtags such as “#pedowhore” and “#preteensex,” allowing them to access profiles that sold child pornography.
Many of the accounts catered to the users, posing as children who offered sexual services and images. Through hashtags suggested by the algorithm, users could find videos of children harming themselves, as well as committing bestiality. The Wall Street Journal added that the profiles offered “menus” of items that could connect users to more child pornography, as well as schedule “meetups” or “commission specific acts” between users and children.
Researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory found 405 accounts linked to child pornography and sex services, many of which were found through suggested hashtags from the algorithm. Particular emojis, such as a cheese pizza emoji used to indicate “child porn” and a map emoji to indicate “minor attracted person,” functioned as a type of code for the pedophilic accounts. Many of the accounts purported to be run by children themselves, claiming to be as young as 12 years old.
Instagram’s algorithm offered a pop-up for many of the hashtags, with a message saying, "These results may contain images of child sexual abuse.” The app then offered two options: “Get resources” or “See results anyway.”
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said in a statement provided to The New York Post that they had removed thousands of hashtags leading to harmful content.
Meta commented that the company is “continuously exploring ways to actively defend against this behavior” and has worked to “set up an internal task force to investigate these claims and immediately address them.”
A spokesperson for Meta also told the outlet:
Child exploitation is a horrific crime. We work aggressively to fight it on and off our platforms, and to support law enforcement in its efforts to arrest and prosecute the criminals behind it.
Meta, along with fellow social media behemoth Twitter, have come under fire for censoring conservatives who shared information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine or questioning the mainstream media narrative regarding the 2020 presidential election results.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) spoke before the House of Representatives in February to raise concerns over Big Tech’s collusion with the federal government to silence dissent.
“Censorship is an authoritarian tool used to keep power by suppressing dissent,” Biggs said. “It is done in our case by pretense of keeping Americans safe. Conservatives, though, are playing against a stacked deck. This administration is doing the stacking.”
The Department of Homeland Security attempted to establish a Disinformation Governance Board last year to censor dissent to the Biden administration.
Reports cited by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) showed that Facebook created a portal through which federal officials could submit requests to censor and remove content.
Independent journalists also confirmed last year through the release of the Twitter Files that previous managers at the social media firm, which is now owned by Elon Musk, worked with the Biden campaign to censor articles concerning the Hunter Biden laptop story and ban the articles from being shared in the days before the 2020 election.
The Supreme Leader of Iran was simultaneously allowed to have an open and active Twitter account which posted violent and misleading information.
Meta did not immediately respond to The Sentinel’s request for a statement.