that Facebook and Instagram had become major platforms for buying and selling children for sex.
The impact of Instagram on children and teens has faced scrutiny from civil society groups and regulators concerned about predators on the platform, privacy and the mental health impacts of the social media network. The company paused its controversial plans in September 2021 to build a separate version of Instagram specifically tailored for children who are under 13.
The Stanford researchers said the overall size of the seller network ranges between 500 and 1,000 accounts at a given time. They said they started their investigation following a tip from the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the findings.Meta said it has strict policies and technology to prevent predators from finding and interacting with teens.
While Instagram is a central player in facilitating the spread and sale of child sexualized imagery, other tech platforms also played a role, the report found. For instance, it found that accounts promoting self-generated child sexual abuse material were also heavily prevalent on Twitter, although the platform appears to be taking them down more aggressively.
Some of the Instagram accounts also advertised links to groups on Telegram and Discord, some of which appeared to be managed by individual sellers, the report found.