This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-vast-pedophile-network-4ab7189

Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network

The Meta unit’s systems for fostering communities have guided users to child-sex content; company says it is improving internal controls

Lionel bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

By Jeff Horwitz

and Katherine Blunt

June 7, 2023 7:05 am ET

Instagram, the popular social-media site owned by Meta META 0.40%increase; green up pointing triangle Platforms, helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content, according to investigations by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Pedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests, the Journal and the academic researchers found.