Meta Platforms’ Instagram has been in the news recently, though not for any good reason.
An investigation by the BBC found that Instagram has been running paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse imagery (CSAM) in India. More recently, the launch of Meta’s Muse Image AI tool has sparked concerns of publicly accessible Instagram images being used to fuel non-consensual deepfakes and other AI-enabled badness.
Here’s a rundown of what you need to know about both issues.
CSAM ads on Instagram in India
The BBC investigation found that the paid advertisements on Indian Instagram accounts used terms like “rape video” or “child video.” The ads connected users to channels on the Telegram messaging app, with the materials being sold for a minimum of 99 rupees — a little over $1, or about P64.
