Facebook parent Meta has pledged action after popular photo-sharing platform Instagram was found promoting an extensive network of paedophile content, media reports say. The social networking giant said that "child exploitation is a horrific crime", according to a report by Wall Street Journal. The WSJ report revealed that Meta-owned Instagram's systems helped "connect and promote a vast network of accounts" devoted to underage-sex content.
The report includes investigations by WSJ and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Meta has set up an internal task force after researchers made the discovery, the report added. Unlike forums and file transfer services, Meta-owned Instagram not only hosts such activities, but promotes them via its algorithms. There has been an acknowledgement of "enforcement problems" and the company has taken actions including restricting its systems from recommending searches associated with sex abuse.
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The Facebook parent was quoted as saying that it is striving to restrict child sexual abuse material (CSAM) networks and is changing its systems. Meta has so far pulled 27 paedophile networks and is working to shut down others.
According to the company's former security chief Alex Stamos, the report should set alarm bells ringing for Meta. "That a team of three academics with limited access could find such a huge network should set off alarms at Meta," Stamos was quoted as saying. "I hope the company reinvests in human investigators."
Rival Twitter's Elon Musk Takes A Swipe At Meta
Social media company Twitter's boss and tech billionaire Elon Musk took a swipe at rival Meta and tweeted: "Extremely concerning".
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also accused Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google of employing "bullying tactics" in response to Canadian efforts to secure financial support for news publishers. The proposed legislation aims to compel internet giants such as Google and Meta's Facebook to negotiate commercial agreements and compensate publishers for their content.