Social Media is the New Face of Porn

Someone said he had to work hard to find porn when he was a kid, but kids today have to work hard to stop porn from finding them. Today I want to share how Pornographers push pornography and nudity through Social Media by overrunning Facebook and Instagram with porn and other sexually charged images or videos. Remember, as parents, if you don’t tell your children how to manage social media, the companies behind social media websites will. Those companies don’t necessarily have your children’s best interests at heart, which is why I am writing this blog post today.

Pornography and Nudity on Facebook

For many years the line between pornographic websites and non-pornographic websites was crystal clear. Thanks to Facebook Newsfeed, however, the line doesn’t exist anymore. Consequently, our children don’t have to search for pornography. Instead, pornography comes to them.

If you are not familiar with the Facebook Newsfeed, it is a collection of events from the Mini-Feeds’ of your friends’ that gives you a quick look at what they have been doing on Facebook (which is cool). Unfortunately, let’s assume your friend shared a sexually explicit image or a video (intentionally or accidentally), and that image, too, will appear in your newsfeed as an update.

Further, many Porn Stars maintain Fan Pages on Facebook, under the categories of Models and Actresses. Facebook’s robust search engine makes finding these pages a cakewalk. Although the fan pages seldom post content featuring full nude or hardcore sexual activity, they serve as funnels for luring the viewer into visiting the actual website and viewing the full-length content. Unfortunately, reporting these pages to Facebook doesn’t work all the time.

Pornography and Nudity on Instagram

Posting nudes on Instagram is the norm today. An advocate of the trend once said,

I think that for a lot of girls it’s about empowerment and control of their own body. They post those photos to show that they answer to nobody and not only proud of their physique but in ownership of themselves.

Zoe Fitzgerald

Strangely though, according to the site’s Community Guidelines, even ‘artistic’ nudity is forbidden. (According to Protect Young Eyes, a Digital Safety Organization; however, Instagram does not enforce these guidelines.) Given below is Instagram’s policy regarding nudity in user-uploaded content.

We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative, but we don’t allow nudity on Instagram for a variety of reasons. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.

Instagram Community Guidelines

Searching the site for terms like ‘nude,’ ‘babes,’ ‘sexy’ and variations thereof, or the name of any porn star in the site’s search bar quickly returns results that violate the site’s ban on nudity. The app doesn’t filter these search results to prevent minors from seeing them. The hashtag #Sexy has more than 57 million posts, many clips from porn videos, while #porngirls has more than 300,000 of them.

Fighting Social Media Porn and Nudity

Protecting your kids from porn is challenging but not impossible. Given below is an inclusive list of things you can do as a parent to protect your kids from pornography on social media.

1. Educate your children about the issue

Pornography is not a topic; you will be comfortable discussing it with your children. Still, it’s a must-have conversation because society doesn’t feel uncomfortable exposing our children to pornography. Your children need to be ready to stand their ground when the battle begins, lest they fall. You are responsible for teaching the consequences of giving in to pornography, not the school.

2. Monitor your kids’ Online Profiles

Last but not least, as a parent, you always have the right and the authority to monitor your kids’ Social Media profiles. Monitoring includes but is not limited to following them on Instagram, being friends with them on Facebook, checking their followers and following lists regularly (on Instagram), vetting their friend lists on Facebook, watching out for unusual activity, and spotting fake profiles, among other things. If necessary, consider using Parental Control Software.

3. Refer to the relevant Parental Guides

Although Facebook and Instagram don’t seem to uphold their policies concerning pornography and nude content on their networks, they provide solid advice for parents. Click here to visit the Facebook Parent Portal or here to visit Teen Safety Tips for Parents on Instagram.

Wrap Up

We cannot eliminate the presence of porn from Social Media. But remember, you are not alone in your struggle to protect your children or yourself. The multitude of concerned parents worldwide has led to the creation of a vast array of resources to help similarly concerned parents protect their children from pornography. Just drop me an email, and I will connect you with people willing and capable of helping you.

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