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Instagram Recommends Sexual Videos to Accounts for 13-Year-Olds, Tests Show
- Umofomia 2y agohttps://archive.ph/TXPbL https://archive.ph/TXPbL
- gigatexal 2y agoMaybe social media was a mistake. Oh well… Pandora’s box and all that Congress won’t do anything; it’s too mired in infighting and lobbyists. And these companies’s better angels won’t do anything about this.
- throwway120385 2y agoMaybe using opaque algorithms to score and assign prominence to specific content based on ill-defined metrics like "engagement" was a mistake.
- aydyn 2y agoIf an algorithm correctly determines content that will keep a person interested, and that content is, lets say problematic, isn't that an issue with the person not the algorithm?
- AlexandrB 2y agoSure, in the same way that gambling addiction could be argued to be an issue with the person. But we still keep kids out of casinos because they don't have the judgement to make "good" choices when exposed to this kind of stimulation.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoIf a dealer correctly determines that crack will keep a person interested, and that crack is, let's say problematic, isn't that an issue with the person not the crack?
- degmee 2y agoWe appear to be arguing over semantics. The points being raised here are variations of the following questions: how much is a human life worth, and whose responsibility is it to preserve that life? If you want to poison yourself, is anyone under any obligation to stop you from finding or giving you that poison?
- throwaway173738 2y agoLet’s stop with the semantics and get down to specifics.
- aydyn 2y agoI mean sure, the specifics are: It's not the Internet's or Society's job to raise your child. If you're a parent and you dont want your teen to look at adult instagram its your job to give them some rules and enforcement.
- Jensson 2y ago> It's not Society's job to raise your child. It actually is, children are more raised by society than parents in general. Overall the environment has much more influence on children than the parents, that is societies job to make good environments for children, that is way too much for parents to handle.
- aydyn 2y agoI disagree.
- throwaway173738 2y agoMy mom is currently struggling to quit drinking and Facebook is constantly showing her ads for White Claw. Expecting her to navigate that during withdrawals and recovery is completely insane.
- lovethevoid 2y agoYes, that's still a problem with the algorithm as it's prioritizing problematic content for increased ad revenue - something those buying ads on the platform should be extremely concerned about.
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- hdxbj8 2y ago[flagged]
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- tennisflyi 2y agoSex is everywhere. The internet has a lot of sex. It has been kind of the default since inception. Wild people just now know of its presence.
- iamacyborg 2y agoThere’s a pretty big difference between going out of your way to look for it vs it being served up to you in a feed.
- octopoc 2y agoSex ed via profit-seeking corporations is going to be pretty different, and arguably much more unnatural, than sex ed via parents and other people who care about you.
- recursive 2y agoYou might have misunderstood if you believed this article was about people just learning that sex is on the internet.
- EgregiousCube 2y agoIt's true, it just used to be behind the scenes available to those who seek it out. Like that skeezy room at the back of the video store that had curtains blocking it off. IMO the real "problem" here isn't technological, political, or corporate - it's just a slide of social norms toward hyper-permissibility of immodest or bad behavior. The resolution will likely be social as well, and people realizing that kids are getting exposed to smut will likely hasten that. Laws might get passed, corporations might change their policies, but only after the pendulum swings back socially.
- cue_the_strings 2y agoI'm genuinely curious, how old were you when you were first exposed to sexual content? I think I was like 7 or 8. Like, we had a channel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTV_Palma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTV_Palma) publicly broadcasting porn after midnight (I don't remember watching that) and all the older (~15YO) kids around the neighborhood were collecting porn magazines from who knows where and hiding them around in "caches". I remember all the older kids being really excited about it, and us younglings being curious but grossed out. There was some pressure to pretend you were interested, kids love pretending they're more grown up than they are. Funnily enough, I remember having the same feeling about football world cup, like not getting the whole fuss about it, but being expected to be interested. Couple years later, I naturally found out what they were excited about... For football I never did, though.
- arp242 2y agoI don't think you can really compare staying up late to sneakily watch a (typically soft-core) porn and things like that to always having this content being pushed on you with a device always in your pocket every day. It's really a matter of degree and scale.
- Spivak 2y agoI guess but I had unfiltered access to the internet starting around this age and it was fine. There were two stages of my life, too young to understand or have any desire for sexual content, and old enough to want and seek out sexual content. At 13 I was well into the second stage and it's super weird how we pretend that tweens and teens aren't horny as hell despite all of us having lived through the hormonal onslaught. Looking back having access to stuff beyond extremely sanitized softcore porn was extremely healthy. I learned from a young age that sex was a thing people did for fun, it wasn't super serious, and desires I had and were ashamed of were completely normal and honestly kind of vanilla.
- doublerabbit 2y agoMeanwhile I encountered the wrong, extreme side of porn at 15. And it spiraled from there. It really caused me issues in my twenties and its only now in my thirties that I finally feel I can start to bury the ashes. I'm on track, I've eliminated what I was obsessed with and still fighting the last of the demons. I'm not who I was and it's been an insane hard task to change myself. I understand why people don't. That's what I have to remind myself every morning. During my twenties I was easily wanking 5-8 times a day, I couldn't get enough. I existed within a fandom, the hint is in my username, which is now a thing of the past and I have nothing good to say about such fandom! But, still feels like my horny switch is glued to on. I've even been mulling over the idea of castration just to ensure I have no libido. God forbid, I was a creep and my mind, psyche was an horrorshow. It was only when I accidentally took a heroic dose of an psychedelic I saw who I was. During the psychosis the devil on my shoulder and where I was to stay in the after life. I hit rock bottom, one step away to the point of no return. My parents tried, I beat their system. I moved out after college and then had my own place with no restrictions. Porn is no joke. In true crazy, I even documented the episode somewhat. old site, so no ssl et cetera, exists for legacy.. /face palm http://pixc.pl/argh/blogs/paws_palace.html http://pixc.pl/argh/blogs/paws_palace.html
- rdtsc 2y ago> In one clip that Instagram recommended to a test account identified as 13 years old, an adult performer promised to send a picture of her “chest bags” via direct message to anyone who commented on her video. Another flashed her genitalia at the camera. When it comes encryption and privacy the legislators just can't wait to jump in an "save the children", let's see how vigorous they are going to be investigating and prosecuting Meta for showing inappropriate things to children. > On TikTok [...] new teen test accounts that behaved identically virtually never saw such material—even when a test minor account actively searched for, followed and liked videos of adult sex-content creators. Well, isn't that embarrassing? The evil TikTok they are trying hard to ban, and for good reasons I think, is doing a better job "protecting our children" than Meta.
- infecto 2y agoEven more damming imo is that Instagram is rife with those “young model” accounts. Makes sense though. When you have a product produced in an authoritarian state, they probably spend a lot more time on censoring for better and worse.
- tehjoker 2y ago[flagged]
- infecto 2y agoSo you are saying that TikTok US shares zero code to TikTok China? I never suggested that data is going back to China but my engineering mind jumps immediately to the backends sharing code albeit deployed from two different companies and regions. China is famous for its fast and efficient censorship in social media and assume this ability would transfer to the US.
- fragmede 2y agoHow often have you seen gore or CSAM on Facebook?
- gumby 2y agoI am always surprised by articles like this. Instagram never recommends sexual videos to me.
- mandibeet 2y agoHow different people's experiences with social media platforms can be. Instagram for me too but YouTube shorts sometimes..
- tennisflyi 2y agoIt’s very easy to train it. 1. Search “TikTok dance” 2. Scroll until one is at the beach thus bikini 3. Let it loop a couple times 4. Exit the app and comeback - that’s your new feed
- sandworm101 2y agoAs a former rock climber and sailor I appreciate knots. I sometimes watch videos on youtube about knot theory and rope handling practices. One subset of this is "braiding" of rope, which is an important rope-handling technique. But I watch one video about braiding hair and for MONTHS youtube is pushed me nothing but makeup tutorials and teenager fashion junk.
- laweijfmvo 2y agoThe issue with even saying you don't like something seems to be that _everything_ contains some sort of sexualized being. Into fitness? here's a mostly naked person doing fitness. Hiking? Same. Gardening? Yup! Etc... How can the algorithm possibly disambiguate?
- gumby 2y agoHumans…SMH… :-)
- xyst 2y agosearch for "transparent clothing influencers" on a fresh account and you will get a flood of them
- photochemsyn 2y agoThe hijacking of basic human emotions and drives in the name of some ulterior goal - turning a profit, establishing authority, etc. - is a notion that encompasses and also predates social media, the internet, television and radio advertising, the invention of the printing press, and the tactics of priests and kings throughout recorded history. It's the most fundamental feature of all such propaganda. If we wanted to really undermine such efforts, we'd be teaching children about the history of such propaganda tactics and methods from a quite young age. This has been tried before in the USA, but it got shut down quickly at the beginning of WWII: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Propaganda_Analysis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Propaganda_Analy...
- game_the0ry 2y agoI am disappointed that parents allow 13 year olds to have iphones + social media accounts. The downsides have been well-documented. [1] Can we all collectively get together and say "no" to that stuff until like 18? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI6rX96oYnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI6rX96oYnY
- nomel 2y agoI'm a strong believer that smart watches cover plenty: music, phone calls, texts, schedule/reminders, and even light reading.
- intrasight 2y agoI'm even more disappointed that parents allow 11-15 year olds to be Instagram "influencers" where 85% of the people being influenced are creepy old men. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influencers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influe...
- jchung 2y agoI have kids who will soon be teens. They don't have phones yet, but I can see the decision looming: my ability to communicate / coordinate with them plus the fact that a huge portion of their social life will migrate online on one hand vs. all of the dangers on the other. This is why a lot of parents start with smart watches or restricted phones. They try to get the communication / coordination benefits without the online social risks. But that only lasts so long. I'm not sure how I'll navigate it. Probably not by saying "no to that stuff until 18".
- Zelphyr 2y agoI put off letting my kids have a phone until 14. They had tablets before that. If I could have done it all over again, they wouldn't have gotten any kind of device until at least 16. At best they would have gotten a flip phone.
- rsync 2y ago"I'm not sure how I'll navigate it." I am not going to address the broad set of questions here but I want to point out that two items exist: 1) No-data SIM cards ... they call and text only ... 2) imessage only access point - fairly trivial to set up. So ... a child can be given a phone - even a smartphone - and it can't be used as a social media device when the family wifi turns off. Further, you can heavily restrict family wifi without curtailing normal phone talking if you have an imessage/facetime only access point. Again, no magic bullets here but some tools that you might find useful.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoPlatforms should be liable for recommendations When are we gonna hold these companies accountable and stop accepting excuses?
- lalos 2y agoI wonder if whoever ran this test prefers this type of content and its tied to a wifi network, same device, linked account, IP or location and there's no detail of the setting of the test. Too many factors going on to conclude with not a lot of transparency for reproducibility or flaws in the data collection.
- crowcroft 2y agoAh yes, too complex to really understand what's going on so we will hand wave it away. It should be a hard rule that people under a certain age CAN NOT have this kind of content recommended, there should be precisely 0 ways for the algorithm to promote sexual material to children.
- jtbayly 2y agoIt doesn’t matter. The account was marked with an age. IG pushed sexual content to it. You can add as much other information to the picture as you want, but that’s the black and white issue. Besides, how often do 13yo’s have their own wifi and IP address?
- Zelphyr 2y agoI know this sounds defeatist but, I don't know why anyone even bothers to report things like this anymore. Meta doing something they're not supposed to do, even after promising they'd never do it again? This isn't news. This is a Thursday. Our governments aren't going to do anything about it. We all know it. In part because not enough constituents are complaining loudly enough (or, you know; at all) about these companies. Speaking of; there is a very quick solution to these companies misbehaving: us. We don't even need to cancel our accounts (wouldn't matter anyway, they won't really delete them). Just stop using the services and let the companies know why. Let them know that when they truly take responsibility for their actions and behave then maybe we'll come back. Until then, we're refusing to be good products for them to sell. But, let's face it, there are too many people out there that foolishly think they can't have a social life without social media despite the overwhelming evidence to prove that's not true. Too many people thinking they can't do without Amazon, Apple, Netflix, or Google, or Microsoft among many others. So, nobody will do or say anything and these companies will continue abusing us. I mean, damn. If we can't get fired up enough to do something about one of them blatantly showing sexual material to minors then we haven't hit rock bottom from this particular drug.
- crowcroft 2y agoIf this is the innovation we get from Section 230, then we need carve outs.
- ksaun 2y agoBesides just not using these services, wouldn't it also be necessary to divest any investments in any of these companies (even if through mutual/index funds, etc.)? I agree it is hard to not feel defeatist.
- Zelphyr 2y agoActually, if you're a direct shareholder then you have a direct voice that they will listen to if enough people do the same. So, rather than sell, use that voice to demand change.
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- 1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago"I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here." https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Zuckerberg_Senate_Transcript_2018 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Zuckerberg_Senate_Transcript_...