Techspace – Meta has started
investigating how their app could share Instagram photos facilitating the
distribution and sale of child sexual abuse material.
The effort was made by parent company Facebook following a report
from the Stanford Internet Observatory which found that a large network of
accounts apparently operated by minors openly advertised self-generated child
sexual abuse material for sale.
The researchers found that there was an interaction between buyers
and sellers of self-generated child sexual abuse material connected through
Instagram's direct message feature, and Instagram's recommendation algorithm
made advertising of prohibited material more effective.
The findings offer more insight into how internet companies have
struggled for years to find and prevent the spread of sexually explicit images
that violate the rules on their social networks.
Highlighting how the prevalence of intimate image abuse or so-called
revenge porn has skyrocketed during the pandemic, prompting tech companies,
porn sites, and civil society to increase their moderation tools.
In April, the Guardian said its two-year investigation found that
Facebook and Instagram had become the main platforms for buying and selling
children for sex.
“Due to the widespread use of hashtags, the relatively long lifespan
of seller accounts, and, above all, its effective recommendation algorithm,
Instagram serves as the primary discovery mechanism for this niche community of
buyers and sellers,” the researchers stated.
Stanford researchers say the overall size of the seller network
ranges between 500 and 1,000 accounts at any given time. They said they started
an investigation following a tip from the Wall Street Journal, which first
reported the findings.
Civil society groups and regulators are concerned about platform
predators, privacy, and the mental health impact of social media networks that
can affect children and young people supervising those who are underage.
The company abandoned its controversial plans in September 2021 to
create a separate version of Instagram designed specifically for children under
13. Later that year, lawmakers also berated the head of Instagram, Adam
Mosseri, over the disclosures that appeared in documents shared with regulators
by Meta. whistleblower Frances Haugen points out that Instagram is dangerous
for most young users, especially young girls.
Meta says it has strict policies and technology in place to prevent
predators from finding and interacting with juveniles. In addition to the task
force, the company said it dismantled 27 abusive networks between 2020 and 2022
and in January disabled more than 490,000 accounts for violating its child safety
policies.
"Child exploitation is a terrible crime," Meta spokesman
Andy Stone said in a statement. "We are working aggressively to fight it
on and off our platform, and to support law enforcement in their quest to catch
and prosecute the criminals behind it."
While Instagram is a major player in facilitating the dissemination
and sale of child sexual images, other technology platforms also play a role,
according to the report. For example, it found that accounts promoting
self-generated child sexual abuse material were also highly prevalent on
Twitter, although the platform appeared to be taking them down more
aggressively.
Some Instagram accounts also advertise links to groups on Telegram
and Discord, some of which appear to be managed by individual sellers,
according to the report.
Last year the European Commission requested that Google, Meta, and
other online service providers would be required to find and remove child
pornography online under proposed European Commission rules, and companies that
fail to comply with the regulations face fines of up to 6% of their annual
revenue or global turnover. , which will be set by EU countries.
This is due to over one million reports of child sexual abuse in a
block of 27 countries in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic a factor in the 64%
increase in such reports in 2021 compared to the previous year. In addition,
60% of child sexual abuse material worldwide is hosted on EU servers.
"The proposed rules introduce an obligation for relevant online
service providers to assess the risk of misuse of their services for the
dissemination of child sexual abuse material or the solicitation (treatment of)
children," the Commission said in a statement.
Companies must then report and remove known and new images and
videos, as well as cases of treatment. The EU's Center for Child Sexual Abuse
will be set up to act as a center of expertise and to forward reports to the
police.
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