The first paragraph is enough to raise my skepticism bells immediately. The mom—a marketing person—videoed her pre-teen daughter "dancing" and "modelling", put it on a public Instagram page, and oversaw the growth in viewership... but it was for "bonding with friends and family" she says. Right.
Not much to admire about the mom's rationalizations, but Meta has a large-scale problem with promoting child porn on Instagram. It goes way beyond this one example. Look at the WSJ articles linked from this one.
> While Meta bans children under the age of 13 from independently opening social-media accounts, the company allows what it calls adult-run minor accounts, managed by parents.
This is the problem. This woman just "sold" her daughter for money.
You know, someone had previously written that Meta should be held accountable. Which I guess I didn't consider too strongly.
I'm sorry, but Meta knows why "adult-run minor accounts" make them revenue. Fucking disgusting. I'd love to see some discovery on their internal metrics and how they build out that feature to drive up engagement from these horny creeps.
I think every parent should be aware that if they give their kids a phone the result is often that they become sexually involved with strangers at a young age. Occasionally, this results in actual meet ups, mostly just sexting.
I'm not sure if there is a "solution" to this problem, or its just the case that sexual morality as it has been conceived is already gone, and articles like these are just the death knells of a fallen order. The solution to changing sexual mores is always to socially isolate kids so they don't get "exposed." But you'd figure that, eventually, the kids will think we're all being a bit ridiculous.
Now that you say this, is there any actual data on harms caused to teenagers from consensual sexual relationships with adults? Or are we all just freaking out because it's unpalatable?
Kids can't consent because they're not aware of what's at stake and are easily manipulated by adults/people with authority. I know this is hn and the concentration of neckbeards is high but yes: fucking kids isn't ok
> is there any actual data on harms caused to teenagers
Must all moral decisions be based on data? If so, what level of certainty is required of this data? In this hypothetically permissive world, is a 13 year the same as an 18 year-old? Because in my experience, their capacities to reason through difficult choices are entirely different. And what makes a 13 year-old substantively different from a 12 year-old? Clearly by limiting your hypothetical to teens, you’re saying something about their capacity to make fully reasoned choices in a way that differs from younger peers. Is there data there? Are these properties evenly distributed in the population? As a parent of a teen, I’m fine if there’s no data here; and I’m ok that it’s a moral choice that the culture in which I live makes based on a deeply held duty to protect, even if the harms aren’t fully understood. Because power differentials may create the illusion of consent, when it’s not truly fully given.
Teenagers don't suddenly become more mature on their birthdays, but the law needs to draw the line somewhere, and I want adults to be strongly discouraged from pursuing 13-year-olds.
> is there any actual data on harms caused to teenagers from consensual sexual relationships with adults?
YES
Becoming involved in sexual relationships early makes someone mean/cruel later in life. It also makes them more manipulative. Both are bad for society.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are examples of people who got involved sex too early, and we know how they treat people.
Imagine the nastiest attorney you know. I bet he/she was getting laid in junior high.
OTOH, helping children keep their innocence leads to kind and caring adults.
Open up any young female "influencer" video on YouTube. Look at the graph of which parts of the video are most played (hover over the playback bar and it pops up). Notice how the spikes in viewership line up with any nudity/bikini/suggestive angles.
Literally 90% or more of the viewers are just there to look at half-naked bodies. Exactly what the article is talking about.
I don't think anyone could pretend that "I just run a fashion channel" or "I just post videos from my kids gymnastics sessions" doesn't know who's really putting views on their videos. It should be blatantly clear to anyone, especially the creator who has more in-depth tools to monitor their audience. These people 100% know what they're doing and they're willing to keep going.
> The mom and daughter have been debating how to proceed. They offer some subscription content on another platform, but the majority of their followers were on Instagram.
This was the most eyebrow-raising out of an entire article of eyebrow-raising, questionable decisions made by that parent. WHICH other platform?
Readit News
> Sometimes the mom spent two to four hours a day blocking users or deleting inappropriate comments.
> At the same time, more sponsorships and deals were trickling in.
I can see the allure of a little extra cash and free stuff and attention, but this is just bad parenting.
This is the problem. This woman just "sold" her daughter for money.
I'm sorry, but Meta knows why "adult-run minor accounts" make them revenue. Fucking disgusting. I'd love to see some discovery on their internal metrics and how they build out that feature to drive up engagement from these horny creeps.
And in the process learned that running a business involves more than just something akin to printing cash.
But that’s a lot of time for her to pursue a side gig that does not require putting your child at completely unnecessary risk.
I'm not sure if there is a "solution" to this problem, or its just the case that sexual morality as it has been conceived is already gone, and articles like these are just the death knells of a fallen order. The solution to changing sexual mores is always to socially isolate kids so they don't get "exposed." But you'd figure that, eventually, the kids will think we're all being a bit ridiculous.
The article is about a mother profiting from suggestive photos of her child.
> But you'd figure that, eventually, the kids will think we're all being a bit ridiculous.
Do you mean growing up?
No.
Must all moral decisions be based on data? If so, what level of certainty is required of this data? In this hypothetically permissive world, is a 13 year the same as an 18 year-old? Because in my experience, their capacities to reason through difficult choices are entirely different. And what makes a 13 year-old substantively different from a 12 year-old? Clearly by limiting your hypothetical to teens, you’re saying something about their capacity to make fully reasoned choices in a way that differs from younger peers. Is there data there? Are these properties evenly distributed in the population? As a parent of a teen, I’m fine if there’s no data here; and I’m ok that it’s a moral choice that the culture in which I live makes based on a deeply held duty to protect, even if the harms aren’t fully understood. Because power differentials may create the illusion of consent, when it’s not truly fully given.
YES
Becoming involved in sexual relationships early makes someone mean/cruel later in life. It also makes them more manipulative. Both are bad for society.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are examples of people who got involved sex too early, and we know how they treat people.
Imagine the nastiest attorney you know. I bet he/she was getting laid in junior high.
OTOH, helping children keep their innocence leads to kind and caring adults.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33964848/
Dead Comment
Start prosecuting and jailing some execs at Meta and let's see how fast they can fix "the algorithm."
I don't think there is a sane way to prevent missuse of pictures of children.
But a starter would be to not use social media.
Literally 90% or more of the viewers are just there to look at half-naked bodies. Exactly what the article is talking about.
I don't think anyone could pretend that "I just run a fashion channel" or "I just post videos from my kids gymnastics sessions" doesn't know who's really putting views on their videos. It should be blatantly clear to anyone, especially the creator who has more in-depth tools to monitor their audience. These people 100% know what they're doing and they're willing to keep going.
> The mom and daughter have been debating how to proceed. They offer some subscription content on another platform, but the majority of their followers were on Instagram.
This was the most eyebrow-raising out of an entire article of eyebrow-raising, questionable decisions made by that parent. WHICH other platform?
Don't put your kids on the Internet!