‘Pimps’ use Instagram to glorify sexual violence and abuse, investigation finds

Instagram has been used to promote sexual violence and exploitation by people advertising themselves as “pimps”, a Guardian investigation has found.

For the past year, the Guardian has been tracking Instagram accounts hosting content that advocates such activity as well as those that encourage violence against the women under the control of a pimp – someone who makes money from selling others for sex.

The accounts identified often use hashtags as well as code phrases commonly associated with sex work to make it easier for buyers to locate them.

As a result of the Guardian’s investigation, Meta has closed down some Instagram accounts and prevented users from searching for hashtags and emojis associated with pimp accounts that were used on more than 350,000 posts.

Posts promoting abuse – including slapping, beating, choking and the denial of food – against women were widespread. In multiple accounts women are referred to as “bitches” and “hoes”.

Meta’s policies for adult sexual exploitation state it removes content that depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault or the sexual exploitation of adults.

According to child safety experts, the dangers to children and teenagers of accounts promoting sexual exploitation and “pimp culture” must be taken more seriously if vulnerable young people are to be better protected online.

“We have created a culture in which ‘pimping’ is glorified – in which exploiters who perpetrate this egregious form of violence and control are seen as people worth emulating,” said Lisa Goldblatt Grace, the executive director of My Life, My Choice, an organisation supporting survivors of sexual exploitation in Boston.

Tina Frundt, a child-trafficking expert and advocate who runs Courtney’s House, a drop-in centre for child-trafficking survivors in Washington DC, said that she has tried to alert Meta and other social media companies to the dangers of pimp accounts and the potential links to sexual exploitation and trafficking.

“In my experience, when you see these hashtags, it really is pimps who are running these accounts,” said Frundt. “They recruit online on a daily basis. There is an impact to the propaganda that pimps put out. They make it seem funny when it’s actually a reality. They desensitise people so that the youth don’t understand what they’re getting into.”

A Meta spokesperson said: “We consistently block hashtags that break our rules so people can’t search for them, including the hashtags flagged by the Guardian. But it’s important to distinguish between sexual exploitation, which we remove as a clear violation of our rules, and content that discusses something widely portrayed in popular culture. For example, the majority of content under the #pimp hashtag is about comedy, clothes or music.”

During the investigation, the Guardian also found that convicted child traffickers have also used Instagram to promote their activities and market their victims.

Related:New Mexico attorney general asks judge to stop Meta removing child abuse evidence from its sites

Court papers seen by the Guardian from the prosecution of the 25-year-old child trafficker Aryion Jackson state that Instagram gave Jackson easy access to teenage girls who he groomed online and then trafficked into sexual exploitationThe documents say Jackson threatened his victims with violence and gave them a target of making him $1,000 (£790) a day from sex work. Jackson was later convicted of child trafficking and is now serving a 27-year prison sentence.

Robyn Cory, whose daughter was 15 when she became one of Jackson’s victims, told the Guardian her daughter informed prosecutors that Jackson and other criminal gang members uploaded videos and images of girls under their control to Instagram Stories, a feature on the site where content disappears after 24 hours. Prospective buyers were then able to respond through the platform’s direct message function.

Cory’s daughter Kristen gave evidence at Jackson’s trial but has since gone missing.

In court papers from Jackson’s trial, it was also found that he used Instagram to promote himself as a pimp through multiple accounts. Evidence presented to court during his prosecution include an Instagram post on his personal account displaying a photo of $100, $20 and $1 bills, with the caption: “Just from last night … she did her shit last night.”

The papers also outline how Jackson continued to run his sex-trafficking operations through a smart phone in jail after he was arrested and incarcerated.

The Guardian also reviewed the court documents of another man convicted of sex trafficking children in 2022, where it is stated that he advertised the sexual services of girls as young as 14 over Instagram and Instagram Stories.

Kevondric Fezia, 28, forced his victims to pose for pictures in their underwear in hotel rooms “with a visible geotag showing those who saw the advertisement where to go to engage in sexual acts with the girls”, according to the court papers. Fezia was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2022 while his accomplice, Calista Winfrey, was sentenced to three years.

Meta’s online child protection policies state: “We do not allow content that sexually exploits or endangers children. When we become aware of apparent child sexual exploitation, we report it to NCMEC (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children). NCMEC coordinates with law enforcement authorities from around the world.”

Yet the child-trafficking activities taking place on Jackson and Fezia’s Instagram accounts were not picked up by Meta’s content-moderation software or staff, and their business activities continued for months. Law enforcement were alerted to their crimes only when the survivors and families contacted the police.

Meta said in a statement: “The exploitation of children is a horrific crime and we work aggressively to fight it on and off our platforms. Between October and December last year, we took action on over 18m pieces of child sexual exploitation content, including in Instagram Stories.

It also said that it did not allow convicted sex traffickers to use its platforms and has deleted Aryion Jackson’s Instagram accounts after being contacted by the Guardian.

• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html