Democrats along, with their media and tech allies, routinely denounce conservatives as Nazis, racists and fascists. These groups and ideologies are some of the worst in history — let alone in American life. But the same people disingenuously slinging these slurs at their opponents are quick to overlook something just as bad in their own midst.
Who inhabits the deepest circle of hell: the Nazi or the pedophile? Big Tech tries desperately to shove over 74 million people into the former category, while allowing the latter to thrive on their platforms.
An exposé published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal revealed that Instagram, the popular social media site owned by Facebook parent company Meta, is home to a “vast pedophile network.” The investigation found that the platform “helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content.”
“Instagram’s problem comes down to content-discovery features, the ways topics are recommended and how much the platform relies on search and links between accounts,” David Thiel, chief technologist at the Stanford Internet Observatory, told the Journal. (RELATED: ‘There Is No Limit To What They Can Do To You’: Tucker Carlson Sounds Off On Biden Labeling Trump Voters ‘Fascists’)
Researchers found that Instagram allowed users to browse hashtags such as #pedowhore and #preteensex which then connected them to accounts offering such material for sale. These accounts typically offer to “commission specific acts” ranging from explicit pictures, videos, and even “meet ups” in the real world. A team of only three researchers, with “limited access” and resources, easily found over 112 accounts offering such material with over 22,000 individual followers.
Instagram has taken action against some of the pedophile rings on the platform, but it is not enough. Alex Stamos, the former chief security officer at Meta told the Journal that the platform needs to “reinvest in human investigators” to stop the rampant abuse.
For his part, Elon Musk found the revelations “extremely concerning” and has committed to rooting out the problem on Twitter, and yet the left continues to vilify him. Meta, however, appears far more preoccupied with policing conservatives and continues to receive praise for its efforts.
Instagram: Boosts Vast Pedophile Network
Advertisers Lost: 0
Twitter: Destroys Vast Pedophile Network
Advertisers Lost: “About half”according to @elonmusk
Tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of corporate “advertising” 💀 pic.twitter.com/Foa0q17oNE
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 8, 2023
There are countless examples of Big Tech taking down legitimate, and often uncontroversial, conservative speech under its broadly defined policies against hate speech and harm. They aggressively over-police speech from the right, and when caught, they blame the algorithm. They make it appear as if no one makes a decision on what to block, ban or moderate.
Yet in reality, the algorithm must be written by someone. While true transparency is hard to come by in the world of Big Tech, it is clear that the vast majority of Meta’s political donations go to Democrats. It is a safe assumption that the computer nerds writing code for these platforms are also rabid left-wing activists — the type of person who thinks criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement’s Marxist mission is equivalent to virulent white supremacy or that parents protesting drag shows in their kids’ schools are a domestic terror threat.
Terms like “hate speech” and “harmful” mean nothing when they are defined by the left. (RELATED: US Will ‘Soon’ Have ‘Illegal Hate Speech’ Laws, World Economic Forum Panelist Tells Brian Stelter)
Yet at the same time they are zealously lumping mainstream conservative positions into the Nazi rubric, the Big Tech companies are radically under-policing child pornography.
When reached for comment by the Journal, Instagram “removed the option for users to view search results for terms likely to produce illegal images.” However, it declined to comment on why it offered them in the first place.
Perhaps Instagram staffers are open to the left-wing position that pedophiles, or “minor attracted persons,” are a group to view with sympathy. This insane contention, increasingly in vogue with the far left, argues that pedophilia is just another immutable characteristic that should not be discriminated against. Not all pedophiles act on it, so it is only fair to give them a “non-stigmatizing” label.
Another alternative is that they just do not have enough resources. Perhaps the “human investigators” Stamos mentioned are all too busy monitoring potential right-wing hate crimes. Who has time to track pedophiles when you have to make sure the local school board meetings don’t get too rowdy? (RELATED: Twitter’s Efforts To Fight Antisemitism Receive Mixed Reviews From Jewish Advocates)
With the stark disparity in content moderation, it’s no surprise that QAnon theories proliferate online.
First there was Jeffrey Epstein. He paraded around with the rich and famous for years after he was first arrested for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, and the public still doesn’t know the full story. Now, we have Big Tech actively ignoring more of the same behavior. If the most technologically and politically powerful companies in the history of the world can’t be bothered to protect children on their platforms, it’s understandable why some people jump to the conclusion that the oligarchs running them really are all pedophiles.
What this shows is that our leading institutions, and the corrupt elites who control them, no longer deserve the trust of the people. They prioritize abstract, politicized notions of safety over the very real protection our children deserve. The Journal’s report shows that concrete steps can and must be taken to restore trust and safety in ways that go beyond mere corporate posturing.