Meta's recommendation algorithm promotes back-to-school photos of girls to adult male user
Meta's recommendation system promoted back-to-school photos of schoolgirls as young as 13 in ads encouraging a 37-year-old man to join Threads, showing girls' faces and names in school uniforms. Parents said they were unaware Meta could use the images this way and described the targeting as exploitative and concerning.
What happened
Meta's recommendation algorithm promoted back-to-school Instagram posts containing photos of schoolgirls as young as 13 to a 37-year-old man as 'suggested threads' to encourage him to use Threads, Meta's alternative to X. The girls were shown in school uniforms with their faces and names visible. Parents had posted the images to Instagram; one mother's account was set to private but the posts automatically cross-posted to Threads, while another had posted to a public account. Parents were unaware Meta's settings permitted this use.
Reported impact
Parents described the targeting as 'absolutely outrageous', 'deliberately provocative and ultimately exploitative of the children and families involved', and 'disgusting'. One father said he felt 'quite disgusted' when he discovered his 13-year-old daughter's image had been 'exploited in what felt like a sexualised way'. A mother said she would not have consented to Meta using a photo of her minor daughter dressed in a school uniform for promotional purposes.
Index analysis
The man who received the targeted posts noted that all promoted images were of schoolgirls – with no boys in school uniform, for example – leading him to observe there appeared to be 'an aspect of sexualisation' to the recommendations.
Governance controls
Meta said the images did not violate its policies and that it recommended Threads by showing publicly shared photos complying with its community standards and recommendation guidelines. Meta stated its systems do not recommend Threads shared by teenagers, but these were posts made from adults' accounts set to allow public viewing.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.