Pages with millions of followers are using Reels videos showing violence, sexual assault and animal cruelty to draw audience and monetize. One day last week, four large meme pages posted a video of a young child being shot in the head.
, raised $21.5 million in venture capital funding earlier this year.
Jackson Weimer, 24, a meme creator in New York, said he began to notice more graphic content on meme pages last year, when Instagram began to push Reels content heavily in his Instagram feed. At first, meme pages were posting sexually explicit videos, he said. Then the videos became darker.“Originally, these pages would use sexual content to grow,” he said, “but they soon transitioned to use gore content to grow their accounts even quicker.
The rise in gore on Instagram appears to be organized. In Telegram chats viewed by The Post, the administrators for large meme accounts traded explicit material and coordinated with advertisers seeking to run ads on the pages posting graphic content. “Buying ads from nature/gore pages only,” read a post from one advertiser. “Buying gore & model ads!!” said another post by a user with the name BUYING ADS , adding a moneybag emoji.
“The only place you can put one dollar in and get three dollars out is Instagram meme accounts,” Betesh said. “These agencies are buying so many meme account promos they’re not doing due diligence on all the accounts.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
19 Jaw-Dropping Celebrity 'Facts' People Learned After Reading Their Wikipedia Pages'I absolutely LOVE Woody Harrelson, but imagine my utter shock when I discovered his father was a bona fide hitman who assassinated a federal judge.'
Read more »
The Book Pages: Octavia’s Bookshelf owner Nikki High on an incredible first weekOur Book Pages columnist Erik Pedersen on the bookstore’s big day, Tom Verlaine’s book life and a dog reviews a new novel.
Read more »
The Book Pages: Rebecca Makkai has a question for you, readerIn the Book Pages Q&A, the novelist answers questions about the books she loves and reveals a reading challenge.
Read more »
Before Instagram, ‘It Girls’ Needed A Fake I.D., A Vice ‘DO,’ And A DJ GigLearning to DJ and fending off creeps in the name of fame that looks accidental.
Read more »