Instagram algorithm boosted ‘vast pedophile network,’ alarming report claims

Instagram’s recommendation algorithms linked and even promoted a “vast pedophile network” that advertised the sale of illicit “child-sex material” on the platform, according to the findings of an alarming report Wednesday.

Instagram allowed users to search by hashtags related to child-sex abuse, including graphic terms such as ##, #preteensex, #pedobait and #mnsfw — the latter an acronym meaning “minors not safe for work,” researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst told the Wall Street Journal. ---More...