Meta “turned a blind eye” even though it knew that some parents were taking advantage of their children to make money on the Facebook and Instagram platforms and in some cases taking advantage of subscription fee tools.
According to independent reports published in The New York Times ( NYT ) and The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ), Facebook and Instagram (both operated by Meta) have become potential tools for parents who Manage the social network accounts of children (mostly girls) – those who are not yet 13 years old to qualify to use the platform.
A small group was determined to have sold material about their children, including photos in revealing clothes, exclusive chats, or cheerleader outfits and leotards (a tight one-piece outfit that covers the body but is revealing). femoral). Buyers are mainly adult men.
The WSJ said that although these parent-run accounts did not post information that violated community standards or was sexually suggestive, Meta staff still discovered that some parents were doing business and producing material about children. their children with content that helps pedophiles “feel satisfied”. These include parents having sexual conversations with their children and having their children interact with “adult” messages sent by followers.
Meta employees are also believed to have been aware of the company’s algorithms that promoted child-related account subscriptions to suspected pedophiles, knowing that some parents provided additional content. content about their children on other platforms.
Currently, Meta has not responded to the above report.
With the way the algorithm used by Meta works, even accounts with no bad intentions such as accounts of child models, and young athletes often attract a large number of male followers. Accounts with a high number of followers will be given increased suggestions by Instagram. According to NYT, some companies pay up to $3,000 for each post from a child celebrity, and monthly income through paid subscriptions can reach up to six figures.
Meta staff’s recommendations to solve the above problem, such as requiring accounts selling subscription packages aimed at children, to register themselves for tracking or be completely banned, seem to have been dismissed by the company. Instead, Meta focused on building an automation system to prevent pedophiles from signing up to follow accounts run by parents, although this method has proven to be unreliable because it can be easily circumvented. by creating another account.
At the same time as building the system, Meta expanded the subscription program and gifting feature, asserting that everything was well monitored. However, WSJ found that the gifting tool was being abused and that Meta’s censorship tools were hindering some parents’ efforts to control who interacted with their children. Specifically, accounts that block too many followers in a day will have the ability to block others blocked by Meta
NYT also emphasized Meta’s “inadequate censorship efforts”, asserting that the Facebook operating company only responded to one of the 50 reports that NYT made about questionable content containing children during the period. 8 months. An internal study conducted by Meta in 2020 in court documents found that about 500,000 child Instagram accounts had “inappropriate” interactions every day.
Meta also does not have a “good reputation” when it comes to protecting children on its platform. The company’s two main social networks, Facebook and Instagram, were once accused of creating “a market for ‘predators’ looking for children” in a lawsuit filed by the mayor of New Mexico state (USA) in December 2023. WSJ has also published several notable reports over the years, demonstrating that Instagram and Facebook are used to promote pornography, suggesting material for pedophiles.
