Meta has launched an investigation into allegations that Instagram’s algorithm is promoting child sexual abuse material. The Stanford Internet Observatory reported finding “large-scale communities” sharing paedophilia content on the platform.
The investigation follows a Wall Street Journal report detailing how Instagram’s recommendation system connected a “vast paedophile network” of buyers and sellers of illegal material. The ‘suggested for you’ feature also directed users to off-platform content sites.
Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center described Instagram as “currently the most important platform” for these networks, citing its popularity and user-friendly interface. Users could find abuse content through explicit hashtags like #pedowhore, which Instagram has since blocked.
A Meta spokesperson said: “Child exploitation is a horrific crime. We’re continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behaviour, and we set up an internal task force to investigate these claims.” Meta added that it had dismantled 27 paedophile networks on Instagram over the past two years and removed 490,000 accounts violating child safety policies in January alone.
The Stanford Internet Observatory called for an industry-wide initiative to limit the production, discovery, and distribution of child sexual abuse material, urging companies to devote more resources to proactively identifying and stopping abuse.
