Over the weekend, I read an article from one of my very favorite sites that all parents should subscribe to, Protect Young Eyes. You may recall them singing their praises back when they led the way in getting SnapChat to shut down that pornographic “Cosmo After Dark” feature, a campaign I was happy to jump in on. Together, we rallied readers from our websites to yell at Cosmo and SnapChat until they dumped the feature. It was a great victory for decency and the safety of our kids online! Well, now, PYE has let out another rallying cry, and I’m happy to jump back on board with them. This time? We need to band together as parents to fight Instagram porn.
Instagram porn is rampant on the app
Many of our kids have Instagram, the “legal” age to do so is only thirteen. I will say, that I still think that’s too young and that our kids don’t “need” social media. My 14-year-old just got his first smart phone, and he’s not allowed to have any social media on it. Social media isn’t for kids, it’s really not…but that doesn’t mean that Instagram shouldn’t make it SAFE for them, especially when they allow children to make accounts. Right? Of course right. Why would you make it legal for a 13-year-old to use an app that has millions of pornographic pictures and videos on it? I can find no good answer to that question.
I’m not saying Instagram porn is purposeful on the part of the app; it’s definitely not. However, Instagram does literally nothing to stop its users from uploading porn to it constantly. Don’t believe me? Do a simple search. Or, better yet, DON’T, because you’re gonna see some NASTY stuff. Our friends at Protect Young Eyes did the literal dirty work for you, and here is what they found.
Instagram porn is being uploaded much faster than users can report it
Chris McKenna of Protect Young Eyes embarked on an Instagram porn reporting campaign for five days. I will let him explain, in his own words, how he conducted his experiment. Chris says:
“Here’s what we did. Simple, really. We selected five #hashtags that are known offenders when it comes to inappropriate content. For five days, we reported these #hashtags using Instagram’s self-reporting feature, at least 10 times per day. Meaning, we told Instagram that the #hashtag was posting inappropriate content and/or the #hashtag itself is inappropriate. Therefore, each #hashtag was reported at least 50 times over a 5-day timeframe. And, we wanted to see if it made a difference.”
Here’s an example of the content that came up under the #sexyvideos hashtag. Chris blocked out all the really, really pornographic ones, but has descriptors of what is in each screen shot below:
Ok, after you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, please note that this is just ONE of the hashtags Chris tested and reported. To see them all, please go to his article on Protect Young Eyes (I really, really suggest you do!!!) Also note: the number of images and videos on the #sexypictures hashtag was 1.6 million on the first day he reported it, and 1.6 million on the 5th day he reported it. Meaning…(drumroll please)…reporting inappropriate content on Instagram does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
