Meta Faces Flak for Child Exploitation via Subscription Tools on Facebook and Instagram

Meta Platforms Inc META, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, faced significant internal concerns last year regarding the misuse of new paid subscription tools on its platforms, particularly by adults exploiting children for profit. 

Internal teams at Meta discovered that numerous “parent-managed minor accounts” were selling exclusive content, often featuring young girls in bikinis and leotards, to predominantly male audiences displaying overt sexual interest. 

Despite the absence of nudity or illegal content, there was evidence that some parents were aware they were catering to adults’ sexual gratification, sometimes even engaging with subscribers’ sexual messages about their children, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Also Read: Instagram’s Update Dilemma: Are New Features Hurting Creator Income?

The subscription feature, part of Meta’s broader initiative to incentivize content creation, was launched without essential child-safety measures, leading to the exploitation of child-modeling accounts by users with pedophilic interests, the WSJ writes. 

Meta’s algorithms were found to be promoting such accounts to these users, exacerbating the issue claims WSJ. 

Despite recommendations from Meta staff to implement stricter controls or monitoring of accounts featuring child models, the company opted to develop an automated system aimed at restricting suspected pedophiles from subscribing to these accounts.

In January, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to the families of children who were victims of abuse on social media platforms after being told by a senator, “You have blood on your hands.” 

Reported incidents of online enticement more than doubled in 2023 from 2022.

The children fell prey to “sextortion” after the perpetrators threatened to share their explicit pictures.

The social media platforms have also been battling a surge in deepfake images of celebrities courtesy of image generation via artificial intelligence.

Price Action: META shares are trading higher by 0.43% at $488.23 on the last check Friday.

Also Read: Meta Under Fire: Walmart and Match Group Slam Company Over Ads Next to Underage Sexual Content

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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