Big players opt out of advertising on Instagram after a child predator test fails،
Others affected include Disney, Pizza Hut and Walmart. As you know, these giants require social media platforms that their advertisements are not shown alongside inappropriate content (e.g. hate speech and sexually explicit material).
The Wall Street Journal conducted a substantial experiment that they summarize as follows: “Instagram’s algorithm provides a toxic video mix to adults who follow children.”
The WSJ “sought to determine what Instagram’s Reels algorithm would recommend for testing accounts set up to follow only young gymnasts, cheerleaders and other teen and tween influencers active on the platform.” Instagram’s system delivered jarring doses of salacious content to these test accounts, including racy images of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos, as well as ads for some of America’s biggest brands. The report.
The test continues:
In a feed of videos recommended by Instagram, an ad for the dating app Bumble appeared between a video of someone caressing the face of a life-size latex doll and a video of a young girl with her face digitally masked lifting his shirt to expose it. his stomach. In another, a Pizza Hut ad followed a video of a man lying on a bed with his arms around what the caption said was a 10-year-old girl.
The Canadian Center for Child Protection, a child welfare group, separately conducted similar tests, with similar results.
Meta said these tests produced “a manufactured experience that does not represent what billions of users see” and declined to comment on why the algorithms were compiling streams of separate videos showing children, sex and advertisements.
Match began canceling Meta advertising for some of its apps, such as Tinder, as early as October 2023. Additionally, Match has paused all Reels advertising and has stopped promoting its main brands on any of the Meta platforms. “We have no desire to pay Meta to market our brands to predators or to place our ads near that content,” Match spokeswoman Justine Sacco said.
Robbie McKay, a spokesperson for Bumble, said it would “never intentionally advertise alongside inappropriate content” and that the company was suspending its ads on Meta’s platforms.
