Disclaimer: The following article references suggestive and explicit material. Extreme caution was used in researching the exploitative material. Any links, accounts, or users involved in such material were reported upon finding. We do not suggest personal research into child pornography on social media. Reader’s discretion is advised.
UTAH SENATE BILL 152
Senate bill 152 is the Utah Legislature’s newest attempt to regulate various social media platforms within the state of Utah. Increased pressure from Utah parents, teachers, and legislators resulted in the issue being seriously considered. In early January, Governor Cox warned social media companies at the Social Media and Youth Mental Health Symposium that action would be taken to ensure the safety of children on social media, eventually leading to the introduction of bill 152. The bill outlines various measures to ensure the protection of youth on social media: social media companies will need to verify the age of their users, require parents to consent to the social media use of a minor, hide minor accounts in search results, and restrict targeting ads to children. The proposed regulatory adjustments hope to mitigate the increasing depression, anxiety, and online bullying rates.
PORNOGRAPHY ON INSTAGRAM
Governor Cox’s legislative proposal received primarily positive feedback from parents and legislators. However, the bill overlooked the most significant problem of social media: pornography. Pornography is rampant on Instagram, the second-leading social media platform; one family-centered website found that it took less than 30 seconds to find pornography on Instagram. Defining “obscenity” and “pornography” has had a turbulent history in American politics. Still, the most relevant definition of pornographic material is Justice Potter Stewart’s famous line, “I know it when I see it.” Using this criterion, pornography can range from scantily dressed men and women to abusive sexual interactions involving children: both of which can be found on Instagram within seconds.
CHILD MODELS
As lawsuits stack up against Pornhub’s inability to filter child pornography and other non-consensual sexual interactions from being posted on their platform, Instagram remains unfiltered. Child models ranging from age 5-17 and their many fan accounts are hotbeds for child predators on Instagram. Many child model accounts seem to be run by parents or advertising agencies, usually posting professional photoshoots. The material is suggestive, as the children are often dressed in swimsuits or revealing clothing. Below is a typical child model account of a 4-year-old, though not as lewd as others.
Hyper-sexual comments fill the posts of child models; some call the child “sexy” and “delicious,” while others leave eggplant, tongue, and kissing emojis. This side of Instagram, the professional child-model side, is troubling, but in reality, it only scratches the surface.
THE DARKER SIDE OF INSTAGRAM
Predatory commenters posting under child model accounts usually have little to no followers, no profile picture, and follow hundreds of child models and other child-owned accounts. Child-owned accounts, different from the child model accounts, do not seem to be managed by a parent or a modeling agency but instead appear to be managed directly by the minor child. The content posted on these, seemingly by the children, is much more suggestive than the more-professional child model accounts. Extremely sexual, barely clothed photos and videos of children dancing, twerking, modeling, and stretching are abundant; the types of material uploaded by these children are similar to pornstars and cam girls that advertise on Instagram. Many of the children are very young, perhaps 6-16, and seem to be in highly impoverished countries, posting videos in rooms with dirt floors, wood-plank walls, and tin roofs. This troubling environment is not surprising as Operation Underground Railroad has done significant work exposing the massive child-porn market in third-world countries. Below are two photos. The first is a child-owned account in Thailand with over 9 thousand followers; the translated bio reads “single, 12 years old, weight 29 kg, height 131 cm, bored.” The provided measurements imply that a parent is running the account. The second photo is of an anonymous commenter that frequents the Thai minor’s account and follows thousands of other child-owned accounts.
FAN PAGES AS LAUNCHPADS TO CHILD PORN
“Tribute” and “fan pages” are dedicated to posting the most suggestive and explicit videos and photos of these children on Instagram; each account has dozens of posts. Fan and tribute accounts also have thousands of followers, and their bios petition for submissions, DMs, and private messages of new content via messenger apps. Some also advertise private child-porn group chats for a sum of money. The comments on these fan pages are the most suggestive, with many commenters describing the sexual acts they would perform on the children and others asking the child to remove more clothing.
These accounts expose Instagram as a launchpad to other outlets where more explicit, abusive, and hard child pornography can be found. Many of the tribute pages have Wickr and Telegram handles listed in their bios; Wickr and Telegram are encrypted, private messaging apps similar to WhatsApp. Upon searching the handles on their respective apps, the results lead to users advertising “mega-links” and “mega-drives” for a sum of money, usually around $20. Undoubtedly, these links give access to child pornography. Some predatory accounts post links in Instagram comments that lead directly to child pornography without a necessary paywall and these comments usually get dozens of likes. Below is a fan page with over 19 thousand followers that posts suggestive child content daily.
Additionally, symbols and metaphors are ways pedophiles communicate with one another on Instagram. In February 2007, WikiLeaks released an FBI document detailing “Symbols and Logos Used by Pedophiles to Identify Sexual Preferences.” One of these symbols is a circular swirl, designated by pedophiles as a “little-boy lover” sign. Another symbol lacking in the FBI document but prevalent on Instagram is pizza, referred to as “Cheese Pizza” or “CP” (Child Porn). Many fan pages and anonymous accounts have pizza or swirls in their handles and bios to communicate their sexual preferences. Below is a fan account with “Pizza” in its handle and a Wickr usernamethat leads to a “mega-link.”
BILL 152 SOLVES SOME BUT NOT MANY PROBLEMS
Bill 152 adequately addresses potential mental health issues from social media use but only slightly considers the danger of pornography consumption, especially child pornography. Provisions that filter minor accounts in search results and require parental consent upon registration do little to help the problem. As Operation Underground Railroad has shown, many minor accounts in third-world countries may appear to be operating independently, but, in reality, the parents are often behind the scenes. Since child pornography is a profit-making industry, many parents in third-world countries solicit their children to make money, usually by hosting webcam pornography. Since social media accounts may use the parent’s name and birthdate, search result filters and minor registration restrictions would do little to nothing to prevent these accounts from gaining popularity. Additionally, the aforementioned fan and tribute accounts would also bypass age-restrictive measures.
The amount of child-owned and anonymous personal accounts is overwhelming. Although, the photos and videos on Instagram are not considered child pornography for the same reason pornstars and cam girls posting on Instagram are not considered pornography: no nudity is shown. The totality of the pornography industry, from children to adults, must be addressed to reduce the prevalence of child pornography. If one form of pornography is advocated for and allowed on the internet, the even-worse forms of child pornography will slip through the cracks of filters and restrictions. Therefore, a more expansive redefinition of “pornography” would provide more government power to ban suggestive material involving children, thereby reducing the number of predator accounts.
Written by: Jacob Christensen
Senior Contributor at The Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
