Prosecutors in a lawsuit focused on whether or not social media apps, like Instagram, are addictive and harmful, wanted to know why it took so long for Meta to roll out basic safety tools, like a nudity filter for private messages sent to teens. In April 2024, Meta introduced a feature that would automatically blur explicit images in Instagram DMs — something the company reportedly understood to be an issue nearly six years prior.
In a newly unsealed deposition in a federal lawsuit, Instagram head Adam Mosseri was asked about an August 2018 email chain with Meta VP and Chief Information Security Officer, Guy Rosen, where he mentioned that “horrible” things could happen via Instagram private messages, also known as DMs. Those horrible things could include dick pics, the plaintiff’s lawyer said, and Mosseri agreed.
Meta has been asked for comment.
However, the Meta exec pushed back at the line of questioning that suggested the company should have informed parents that its messaging system wasn’t monitored, beyond removing CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material).
“I think that it’s pretty clear that you can message problematic content in any messaging app, whether it’s Instagram or otherwise,” Mosseri said. He said the company tried to balance people’s interest in privacy with its own interests in safety.
The testimony also revealed new stats about harmful activity on Instagram, revealing that 19.2% of survey respondents, ages 13 to 15, said they had seen nudity or sexual images on Instagram that they didn’t want to see. In addition, 8.4% of 13 to 15-year-olds said they had seen someone harm themselves or threaten to do so on Instagram over the past seven days they used the app.
While a nudity filter is only one of several updates that have been added to Instagram in recent years to protect teens, prosecutors were more interested in its delay to act, rather than whether the app is safer for teens now.
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