An edifying investigation. The Guardian presents the results of their investigations around Instagram and the way in which the social network operated by goal promotes the content of young people with adult men to push them to use threads, X and Bluesky competitor.
He was a 37 -year -old man who noticed that Instagram used photos of schoolgirls to highlight the publications available in the threads, despite the fact that some of these photos had been published in a private account and not accessible to the general public.
Photos “Deliberately provocative”
These photos, associated with a publication, set out in the form of “suggested children of discussion”, but The Guardian also explains that these messages take a “deliberately provocative” form that ultimately allows, propagating photos that can be found in forums to exchange child pornographic content. In these images, we can see schoolchildren in short skirts with bare or medium legs.
In order, nothing contravenes its rules
Questioned by the English media, Meta explained that these images did not provide their conditions of use, and that their algorithm only suggested publicly shared threads, respecting both their community standards and their recommendation directives.
The social network adds that these photos were first published in accounts belonging to adults, and that their algorithm was not made to recommend content shared by adolescents.
The fact is that the parents worried, interviewed by The Guardian, report their surprise: “For me, it was a photo of my daughter who went to school. I had no idea that Instagram had recovered it and used it for promotional purposes. It is absolutely unpleasant. She is a minor.”
However, this mother explains that she has refused to give her consent on this subject.
In his account, he has 267 subscribers, the publication where his daughter appears reached more than 7,000 visits, from 90% of people who are not subscribed, 90% of whom are men, and 50% are over 44 years old.
When asked, a target spokesman again explained that none of these images violated the social network recommendation policies: “We have implemented things to ensure that we do not recommend discussion cables shared by adolescents (…) Users can control the way Meta suggests their public publications on Instagram.”
The 37 -year -old man who launched the alert, however, explains to have received images composed exclusively of young girls in school uniforms for several days, sometimes with the last name: “As a father, it seems deeply inappropriate to me to reuse these messages in a specific promotion with adults.”
He had not published or liked similar images: “It seems deliberately provocative and can endanger their online safety.”
The English regulator called for measures
Parents have called the English regulator, ofcom, to take measures and verify whether target ensures not facilitating the connection of minors with adults. The ofcom rules are also very clear on this topic: there is no profile, location, friends list and similar profile for others if a user is lower.
But a private profile on Instagram does not necessarily mean that it is also in threads. To boost its X competitor, goal has facilitated sharing threads creating a basic profile that is easily activated, with the consequences we now know. You must be careful to block the two profiles, while refusing that Meta uses your publications for promotional purposes.
Source: BFM TV
