Meta and its subsidiaries are currently navigating a tumultuous period, facing legal challenges after prosecutors in 33 U.S. states lodged a complaint. The allegations involve Meta’s supposed allowance of children under 13 to use the “Instagram” app, coupled with the routine collection of their personal data without parental consent. The company’s troubles have escalated further with the revelation of a concerning trend in the presentation of sexually explicit content on Instagram, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Delving into the details, the newspaper conducted an experiment by creating new accounts dedicated to following teenage gymnastics, influencers, and motivational figures. Subsequently, these accounts were recommended explicit adult content and sexually explicit material involving minors. A similar test conducted by the Canadian Center for Child Protection yielded comparable results.
The disconcerting findings unveiled a haphazard delivery of explicit content by the Instagram system to these experimental accounts. This included explicit imagery featuring minors, explicit adult videos, and advertisements from some of the prominent U.S. consumer brands.
The magazine took the initiative to establish experimental accounts after observing that thousands of followers of these youth-centric accounts predominantly comprised adult men. Additionally, many of the accounts following these underage users expressed an interest in both child and adult sexual content.
However, the most alarming aspect was the juxtaposition of sexually suggestive content with advertisements from major corporations. Tests demonstrated that following accounts focused on young girls prompted Instagram to display videos from accounts promoting adult content alongside advertisements from leading consumer brands.
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