[CONTENT WARNING]

Instagram is a haven for child predators and a host to the broadcasting of child sex abuse fantasies. Contrary to corporate claims that there's 'no place' for content that exploits or endangers children, exploitative, graphic and degrading comments directed at underage girls are rampant on the Facebook-owned platform. 

Our campaign partners at National Center on Sexual Exploitation met with Instagram heads last December to discuss the ways Instagram puts children at risk and how child safety on Instagram could be improved. Instagram said that the matter of predatory comments will be investigated.  

Meanwhile, men continue to use Instagram to harass and fetishise little girls. See below for our latest roundup of child sex abuse fantasies and other predatory comments freely broadcast on Instagram. We will continue to expose and call out this predatory behaviour!

Take action today!

Help put pressure on Instagram corporate leaders to stop facilitating behaviours that harm children. Join the Twitter conversation using @collectiveshout #WakeUpInstagram and #InstaPimpsGirls.

See also:

Graphic rape comments fuel #WakeUpInstagram campaign

Insta must act on predators: Collective Shout letter to platform heads

eSafety commissioner backs Collective Shout's call for Instagram overhaul

Melinda Tankard Reist on ABC Radio National discussing the #WakeUpInstagram campaign

‘Sexy girl’: How Instagram allows the offering of young girls as fetishised flesh

Each week we find new evidence that underage girls are at risk from predators on Instagram. We've rounded up some of the worst, recent examples of predatory comments we've come across and shared these below. Some of the comments depict male fantasies for carrying out violent sex abuse acts on little girls.

There should be no room anywhere for these comments, and that's why we are continuing to call on Instagram heads to stop the fetishisation and harassment of little girls that is happening on their platform. Join our campaign and help #WakeUpInstagram to child exploitation. Learn how here.

[CONTENT WARNING]

Join the Twitter conversation by tagging @collectiveshout and using #WakeUpInstagram and #InstaPimpsGirls.

See also:

Insta must act on predators: Collective Shout letter to platform heads

eSafety commissioner backs Collective Shout's call for Instagram overhaul

I was so concerned about porn-themed portrayals of young girls on Instagram I reported to police

Melinda Tankard Reist on ABC Radio National discussing the #WakeUpInstagram campaign

If Instagram can restrict diet products they can stop child sexual exploitation

‘Sexy girl’: How Instagram allows the offering of young girls as fetishised flesh

Tech companies turn a blind eye to child sexual abuse material

The fine line between sophistication and sexy. The Feed's Andy Park takes a look at how children and sexuality are portrayed in the images we consume and finds that standards are fluid. And they are changing fast.

Every day, everywhere, we are saturated with images of sexuality. Buy this. Click here. Like us.
 
But where these images become taboo is at the fringes of what we find acceptable. Especially when they involve children.

Julie Willis is a Gold Coast based photographer who specialises in photographing children from newborns right up to teenagers.

Many of the children Julie photographs are destined to be featured in magazines and advertising.

She says working with mothers who allow their children to model at an early age can sometimes have its challenges.

But it's the reaction to images of children that are viewed by some as sexual, that she can't understand.

"For me, I don't live in world where I look at children in that way or that kind of thing," says Julie. "I think it's people's interpretation of their own childhood, their own life, and whether they've got that disposition within their own upbringing that triggered something."

So is it all about our subjective view or can you draw some more objective standards on what is, and what is not, appropriate for children in media and advertising?

First let's look at how things have changed.

In the 1960s products still very much reflected social attitudes of the day. Barbie was in the kitchen, Ken was looking sporty.

But then suddenly something happened. We changed and Mattel released a new doll.

Content Warning: Some content including in this post may be distressing, but it is content the ASB is promoting to your children.

If an adult gave your child a Hustler magazine, what would you do? Perhaps contacting the police might be an appropriate response.

But what if the adult was the Advertising Standards Board, and the pornographic magazine was the address for a hardcore porn website, complete with prostitution services featuring young women engaging in live sex shows, including being penetrated with objects?

Serial offenders Diva quietly restock Playboy jewellery at discounted prices

Last year we learned that retailer Diva was selling Playboy accessories- including Playmate of the month themes- to young girls in stores around the country. In response, we circulated a petition that received over 8000 signatures within weeks and generated substantial media attention. Diva quietly removed Playboy merchandise from shelves and staff advised us they had been returned to Head Office.

In an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Emma Rush and Caroline Norma discuss Witchery's latest ad campaign and the rising global trend of 'corporate paedophilia.'

Signatories to this article include Barbara Biggins, Australian Council on Children and the Media; Dr Joe Tucci, Australian Childhood Foundation; Steve Biddulph, author and family therapist; Dr Ramesh Manocha, Generation Next; Bernadette McMenamin, ChildWise.