Instagram is the second most popular social media site among millennials (of which Snapchat is the first). Users under the age of 35 accounts for more than 70% of global Instagram active accounts. For a long time, Instagram has been the ‘cute and harmless’ social network, but now anymore. It is on its way to transitioning from Instagram today to porn tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the porn industry has found a way to penetrate the minds of young people through this app, which means that children may accidentally access pornographic content or highly sexy material hidden behind certain emojis and hashtags.
With Instagram becoming so popular among young people and our generation, the easy access to explicit pornography should become a public concern. Unfortunately, many parents don’t know that Instagram can sometimes become a portal for pornography because of its increasing use among teenagers and young adults. Maybe you should double check before dismissing your kid’s Instagram emoji or texting another kid odd abbreviations cute or harmless.
This is How Instagram is converting to porn tomorrow site
A brief take on the nudity policy before we proceed.
Instagram’s Nudity Policy
Instagram has more than 700 million daily users and cannot control all of its content according to its community guidelines, which states: “Instagram is a global platform for people of all ages and we have rules around nudity and sexual solicitation to ensure content is appropriate for everyone. We allow sex positive content and discussion, but we do not allow content that facilitates or coordinates sexual activities between adults”
They also pointed out that sometimes people may want to share nude photos for the right reasons (art or medicine). However, you can’t post photos and videos of sexual intercourse, close-ups of the genitals, and completely naked nipples. Some exceptions are scars after mastectomy or women who are actively breastfeeding.
How does adult content infiltrate this app?
Despite the “no nudity policy”, pornography continues to flourish on Instagram. A simple search for “babe” or “sexy” reveals the reality of explicit content includes on the platform. Easy hashtags like #hot usually contain pornographic content and contain millions of posts in total. And they don’t face any moderation before reaching young users.
According to the Global Web Index, 62% of users will be able to access adult material easily on Instagram. But why is pornography still able to seep through these guidelines?
Here are some ways porn can infiltrate this social media app.
Keyword search
Over the years, Instagram has become more and more lenient. That allows situationally inappropriate keywords, such as “sex” to come up. Instagram sometimes temporarily blocks keywords like “Boobs”, but soon there will be countless variations of the same word such as Boobz, Boooooobs, etc. So the content will still be available.
Some of the hardcore content are available under foreign language searches (pörno, pörn, sexy, etc.). Here, Instagram’s autocomplete tool is the best friend of any porn seeker. Even if the unobvious words may have double inappropriate meanings. It is easy and quick to find content that meets at least the soft pornographic criteria. And you can do it with six quick clicks of the mouse in less than 5 seconds.
Instaporn emoji labels
You can find inappropriate content through a variety of suggestive emojis, including eggplant emoji, splash emoji, naughty/nice emoji and all their variants.
Adult content creators always seem to find a way to make innocent emojis looks suggestive and inappropriate. Anyone who accidentally uses it in the search bar can easily access pornographic content in the app.
Searching for porn using Tumblr
The Instagram blog (accessed via “Options”) provides access to Tumblr. This has a rating of 17+ in the App Store and is full of pornography.
Although Tumblr decided to delete most of the pornographic content since December 17, 2018. There is still plenty of inappropriate content that you can find easily.
Using Google’s hidden search option
Through account settings, ordinary users can find the hidden Google search bar in various places such as the privacy policy and help center.
This particular problem occurs in most applications where it is easy to find access to Google. Parents are to constantly remain cautious about the fact that this search bar is available in almost all the applications that kids and adults both use today.
How Different Adult Video Production Companies are Using Instagram
Most of them use Instagram to showcase and promote their personal brand. When choosing a new scene, the house usually considers the number of followers the artist has on Instagram. When artists delete their accounts, they will lose contact with fans and established business relationships, which may have a significant impact on their income and livelihoods.
However, not all artists want to post clean content that is appropriate for all ages. Here are how some individuals and companies are taking over Instagram:
Pornstars
Due to the free nature and accessibility of modern pornography, pornographic artists are earning more income by turning to promotional offers, escorting and social media (such as Snapchat and Instagram), making more money than ever before. Performers get Funds from premium Instagram subscriptions to their accounts, or simply by actively using your Instagram account to attract more followers.
The technological revolution that has reshaped the porn industry has opened up new channels, enabling many porn stars and sex workers to use webcam sites, subscription services, and custom video platforms to act independently.
Many publications leave little to imagination, but artists think these guidelines are too vague and inconsistent in their enforcement. Most importantly, they believe that celebrities can be more outspoken than porn stars or sex workers
Pornbots
Many brands and organizations that have turned to Instagram are fighting so-called “pornbots”. These fake accounts are there to induce users to click on them. And then make them watch pornographic content and then they profit from the views.
Whether it a huge firm or a sports team, the problem of pornbots on the platform is getting worse. The number of these accounts has grown with the popularity of Instagram. But the methods are popular even today.
This process usually involves fans of certain websites. Or maybe family members who get messages from suspicious accounts (friendly, maybe not). These accounts are usually private, with photos on the profiles of well-dressed women, and There is usually an ID name—name—the user will receive a DM, usually just an emoji or tempting prompt, and a link they can click. The same process can happen in the comment section of an Instagram post.
After clicking on the link, users will go directly to pornographic content sites. This is the most obvious way that these bots make money from users is to get them to subscribe to certain types of pornographic content.
Adult Video Production Companies
Finally, the companies which are responsible for posting majority of the pornographic content on the internet such as Pornhub and Brazzers, did not leave the opportunity to leverage the use of social media to reach out to more audience and get more traffic on their websites.
They usually do this through hidden affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a type of a business model that rewards people who bring customers to a company or visit a website. Just as Instagram influencers can make money every time someone clicks on their lipstick affiliate link, porn accounts can make money by sending you to porn sites, whether or not you spend your own money
Where the Viewers of Such Content Go for more Entertainment
The viewers, once they get to see sexually stimulating images repeatedly want more of that. As a result, they seek out ways to view such content.
Instagram – A Gateway to Porn Websites
Instagram does not directly acknowledge the amount of explicit content on the site, but succinctly acknowledges the fact that inappropriate media is a huge concern and enables people to go directly go to porn websites after briefly viewing it on social media.
Their website contains safety and privacy tips, including detailed instructions for parents on how to help their children browse Instagram. However, parenting guidelines on Instagram never mention pornography, and when there is an opportunity to report inappropriate material, it is usually related to bullying and cyberbullying.
Because Instagram is so popular among young people and our generation, its easy access to sexually explicit content should be a public concern. Decades of scientific research have shown that pornographic content is harmful to any consumer, whether young or old, but children are a particularly vulnerable age group.
The consumption of pornography can shape a person’s sexual tastes and desires, usually leading to more aggressive and extreme preferences and literally changing the user’s brain. Pornography is also associated with trauma, especially if children or adolescents come across it at a young age.
But How Can this Lead to Porn Addiction?
Here the effects on the different age groups of people who get exposure to all these things. Subtle triggers here and there is what can lead the viewers to porn addiction down the line.
For adults
Porn is not new, and neither is its addiction. As our media becomes more personalized, Internet pornography also develops and becomes more common in our viewing practices. Apart from alcohol and smoking, social media and Internet pornography are probably the most addictive.
When viewers get triggered with explicit content on social media. Their mind does not allow them to stop there but to further explore such content directly on porn sites just to feel the rush and the pleasure of watching such content.
Fortunately, porn addicts are not at risk of physical withdrawal symptoms, but the social and psychological effects of the withdrawal on their brains can be equally dangerous. One of the main repercussions of any addictive substance is that it can immediately please consumers-providing immediate relief.
Websites such as Instagram and Pornhub do a great job in this regard, providing users with endless and growing content for free. This ultimately leads to dangerous addictive behaviors and causes a whole other problem in your real life.
For kids
The consequences of exposure and pornography consumption at such a young age may create homogenous and often dangerous sexual tastes and preferences for future generations, as well as the long-term existence of negative gender stereotypes and toxic masculinity.
Of course, when the harmful concerns of online predators on children is pretty serious. We need to worry about what is happening inside one of the most popular social media application in the world. Then find out a way to solve the problem for ourselves.
Conclusion
Although Instagram does not seem to be actively addressing these issues today, we can take steps to protect ourselves and others from pornography and predators. This will lead to a world that is more willing to join in opposing pornography and choosing love instead.
