An alarming report has revealed that Instagram’s recommendation algorithms promoted a “vast pedophile network” that advertised the sale of illicit “child-sex material” on the platform. Researchers from Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that Instagram allowed users to search by hashtags related to child-sex abuse, including graphic terms such as #pedowhore, #preteensex, #pedobait and #mnsfw – an acronym meaning “minors not safe for work”. The hashtags directed users to accounts that allegedly offered to sell pedophilic materials via “menus” of content, including videos of children harming themselves or committing acts of bestiality. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said it has since restricted the use of “thousands of additional search terms and hashtags on Instagram.”
Report claims Instagram algorithm bolstered an expansive network of pedophiles.
