Elon Musk expresses 'extreme' concerns over research report claiming Instagram aids pedophile networks on platform

Hours after a report was published claiming that Meta-owned Instagram algorithm helped connect and promote a vast network of accounts linked to underage-sexual content, Twitter chief Elon Musk expressed serious concerns.

In a tweet, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the findings are "extremely concerning".

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the photo-sharing platform is “openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content”. The report alleged that Instagram’s recommendation are promoting networks of pedophiles who sell child sexual abuse content on the platform.


This was revealed during a joint investigation by The WSJ and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

"The Meta unit's systems for fostering communities have guided users to child-sex content" while the social networking platform has claimed it is "improving internal controls".

After the report was published, Meta set up an internal task force and acknowledged enforcement problems and has taken actions which include restricting its systems from recommending searches associated with sex abuse.

"Child exploitation is a horrific crime. We're continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behaviour," Meta told the WSJ in a statement.
The researchers found accounts advertising using blatant and explicit hashtags like #pedowhore, #preteensex, and #pedobait.

When researchers set up a test account and viewed content shared by these networks, they were immediately recommended more accounts to follow.

"Following just a handful of these recommendations was enough to flood a test account with content that sexualizes children," the report claimed.

Meta further told the daily that it had failed to act on these reports and that "it was reviewing its internal processes." The Mark Zuckerberg-led company told reports that it was in a process to block child sexual abuse material (CSAM) networks and taking steps to change its systems.

The researchers found "128 accounts offering to sell child-sex-abuse material on Twitter, less than a third the number they found on Instagram".