A shocking new report has gone as far as accusing Instagram’s parent company Meta of making billions off of content related to eating disorders.
The report that was released by Fairplay accused the firm of marketing eating disorders related to victims that were as young as 9. And that has struck a major alarm amongst so many who feel the act is totally acceptable.
The advocacy organization further went on to elaborate striking details of how the platform actually earns around $2 million in profit from users via the ‘pro-eating’ disorder web.
This web was outlined to have nearly 88,000 followers who closely associate themselves with eating disorder accounts, as mentioned by Rys Farthing who is the author of this report.
Surprisingly, the authors concluded that the 88,000 users present on the web are further followed by about 20 million accounts. And that gives the company a whopping stack of profits that could go up to $228 million.
On the other hand, many critics claim that the issue is definitely not something new. Moreover, they accuse the company of boosting that type of content to younger audiences for a while now, especially women.
A study conducted by Instagram’s parent company in the past delineated how the alarming negative influence that the app had on young girls with striking results.
The report’s outcome even went as far as causing the country’s Senate to start hearings based on the results of that research. Hence, it can safely be confirmed that whatever is mentioned in Fairplay’s report has already been in the knowledge of the public.
This is one reason why so many are calling for prompt action and stricter measures to move ahead with different proposals to invoke change before it's too late.
Meanwhile, Meta’s stance on the matter was also revealed when they claimed that removing all such content at once would invoke further harm by cutting people off from communities that they feel they can relate to.
Hence, their solution to the matter was more inclined to strike a balance where people could be allowed to voice their thoughts and share their experiences at the same time. And that would include removing content affiliated with eating disorder promotion.
Fairplay’s allegations strongly condemn Meta’s attitude towards the matter. They revealed how Meta seems to be more concerned about making profits than children’s health.
It also felt that there are no proper protocols in place that counter-check content being uploaded and that makes so many people vulnerable to wrongdoing.
Read next: Meta Takes 47.5% Cut On All Digital Assets Sold In Its Virtual Reality Game ‘Horizon Worlds’
The report that was released by Fairplay accused the firm of marketing eating disorders related to victims that were as young as 9. And that has struck a major alarm amongst so many who feel the act is totally acceptable.
The advocacy organization further went on to elaborate striking details of how the platform actually earns around $2 million in profit from users via the ‘pro-eating’ disorder web.
This web was outlined to have nearly 88,000 followers who closely associate themselves with eating disorder accounts, as mentioned by Rys Farthing who is the author of this report.
Surprisingly, the authors concluded that the 88,000 users present on the web are further followed by about 20 million accounts. And that gives the company a whopping stack of profits that could go up to $228 million.
On the other hand, many critics claim that the issue is definitely not something new. Moreover, they accuse the company of boosting that type of content to younger audiences for a while now, especially women.
A study conducted by Instagram’s parent company in the past delineated how the alarming negative influence that the app had on young girls with striking results.
The report’s outcome even went as far as causing the country’s Senate to start hearings based on the results of that research. Hence, it can safely be confirmed that whatever is mentioned in Fairplay’s report has already been in the knowledge of the public.
This is one reason why so many are calling for prompt action and stricter measures to move ahead with different proposals to invoke change before it's too late.
Meanwhile, Meta’s stance on the matter was also revealed when they claimed that removing all such content at once would invoke further harm by cutting people off from communities that they feel they can relate to.
Hence, their solution to the matter was more inclined to strike a balance where people could be allowed to voice their thoughts and share their experiences at the same time. And that would include removing content affiliated with eating disorder promotion.
Fairplay’s allegations strongly condemn Meta’s attitude towards the matter. They revealed how Meta seems to be more concerned about making profits than children’s health.
It also felt that there are no proper protocols in place that counter-check content being uploaded and that makes so many people vulnerable to wrongdoing.
Read next: Meta Takes 47.5% Cut On All Digital Assets Sold In Its Virtual Reality Game ‘Horizon Worlds’
