The European Commission demanded this Thursday “immediate action” from the executive director of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, in the protection of minors on Instagram, after an investigation that shows that this social network promotes networks of pedophiles.
The research is from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the universities of Stanford and Massachusetts Amherst.
“Meta’s voluntary child protection code does not seem to work. Now Mark Zuckerberg must explain himself and act immediately,” European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, wrote on Twitter.
#GoalThe voluntary child protection code does not seem to work.
Mark Zuckerberg must now explain and take immediate action.
I will speak with him at the Meta headquarters in Menlo Park on June 23.
After August 25, under #DSA Meta has to show us measures or face heavy sanctions. pic.twitter.com/jA25IJH8Dp
– Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) June 8, 2023
Breton will meet with Zuckerberg on June 23 at Meta’s headquarters in Merlo Park, California (United States), a meeting that will take place before the entry into force of the European Union digital services law.
This regulation will force the main digital platforms to quickly eliminate illegal content and be transparent in the design of algorithms, which determine what users see on the Internet and on social networks.
“After August 25, under the digital services law, Meta will have to show that it is taking action or face heavy penalties,” Breton said.
The regulations allow the European Commission to impose fines of up to 6% of global turnover on large technology companies that do not comply with the requirements. According to a joint investigation by The Wall Street Journal and the universities of Stanford and Massachusetts Amherst, the Instagram algorithm helps link and promote a network of accounts dedicated to pedophilia and the purchase of sexual content from minors.
The researchers found that Instagram allows people to search for explicit hashtags that link them to accounts that serve to advertise the sale of child sexual material, as well as “dating” minors.
Meta has already acknowledged that it has problems in some operations and, to the WSJ, revealed that it has formed an internal working group to address the issues raised.
The owner of the Instagram platform claimed to have removed 27 pedophilia networks and that, since receiving the conclusions of this study, it has blocked “thousands of hashtags that sexualize children, some of them with millions of posts.”
The company has also restricted recommender systems that feature sexually oriented videos and images of teens and children.
Instagram isn’t the only social network accused of distributing sexually oriented content featuring minors, as Stanford University’s Internet Observatory has determined that Twitter has kept pedophile content labeled as prohibited material for months.
Source: TSF
