Why Is Social Networking Allowing Fake Profiles to Exploit Pictures of Innocent Girls

We should stop this

[This article was first posted on Medium]

Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash

A few days back, BoisLockerRoom memes outraged metro cities of India. BoisLockerRoom was a private Instagram group that comprises young boys from Delhi, the capital city of India. They were found sharing images of teenage girls with harsh and sexual comments. Class 11 and 12 students casually discussed “gang-raping” girls, sexualized, and slut-shamed them in screenshots of chats. Those messages have gone viral on Twitter and other social media forums. As per the latest update, a class 12 student, a group admin of BoisLockerRoom, was arrested from Noida, India.

Similar incidents were found in Nepal where young boys had used Reddit thread as their platform. Nepal Police are investigating this case, but no arrest has been reported until today.

It is very difficult to track private messages that are being circulated in messages and groups. But there are many other problems in which social networking platforms are ignorant. They should have tackled and addressed such problems, but it seems they are least bothered.

Fake accounts on social networking platforms are filled up with pictures of innocent girls.

While social media is the easiest way to promote our products for optimal price, we can get things done for free if we have high followers. Lately, I have seen on social networking that many fake accounts experience exponential growth in their profile followers list. So, how do fake accounts increase their growth in less time?

1. Search for photos of young girls on the internet. Make sure she is not a popular actress or model.
2. Download them. Exploit the best one as the profile photo.
3. Post pictures regularly with erotic talks. Keep changing profile pictures.
4. Interact in enormous groups so that people see your account.
5. Follow similar fake profiles. Block them who speak against you.

Yes, this is how fake accounts are growing day by day. It is simple and known to every kid. Most of us might have a question, and I also have one.

Why is social networking allowing fake profiles to exploit innocent girls’ pictures?

I am fully not aware of how fake profiles are promoted in the United States and Europe, but I tell you confidentially, in the Indian subcontinent, pictures of innocent girls are misused and exploited to grow followers for any fake account. People among us follow those accounts knowingly or unknowingly. Those accounts are used to boost web traffic, post spam news, and make controversial statements.

Such facebook profile, Instagrams and twitter account are also sold for a good amount of money to individuals/freelancers looking to buy an account with a large follower base. Thus few opportunistic adapt fake-accounts-path as an easy source of income.

AND. THIS. IS. CLEARLY. VISIBLE.

There might be thousands of other BoisLockerRoom hidden activities going on. But the activities of thousands of fake accounts are visible to everyone in public. I am sorry for these young generation girls that their pictures are being misused as a profile picture of random fake accounts. I am sorry that those pictures are tools for the worst purpose, and yet social giants are stubborn to address this issue.

I report to Facebook every day about such fake accounts. They reply to me saying that those accounts have not violated their community guidelines. I report to Twitter every day about such fake accounts. While some accounts are locked, many are spared from their artificial intelligence model. They continue to post pictures of innocent girls they have never known.

Even if those accounts are blocked, those morons do not stop. They open a new account with a similar approach and attitude. Nothing stops them. No one has been able to stop them until today.

So Who Can Stop them?

Social giants are the only ones who can stop a fake account from posting photos of innocent girls. Yes, if CEOs and leaders of such platforms pledge to address this issue, it may never happen sooner.

How can social giants stop fake accounts from posting innocent girls’ pictures?

Social giants can address this issue with a simple algorithm of face verification to whoever posts their photos on social media. To avoid such rules affecting the account of passive users, they can decide a threshold for which no verification may be required. A user can only grow their friends/followers more than the threshold limit if they verify their profile picture with their faces. This is a simple tool that has already been used by many dating apps. Moreover, Facebook has existing features of photo recognition which can make this development easier than said.

Large communities may backfire this. But all they need to be convinced is that such processes are implemented to protect pictures of their daughter and sisters from being circulated by fake accounts. If they ought to not to verify, they can still practice social networking activities with limitations and restrictions.

I strongly believe this will stop the growth of fake accounts and they will stop using photos of innocent girls as a tool of growing followers.

Will CEOs act for the safety of women in the Indian Subcontinent?

They need to. If not today, they have to address this situation tomorrow. But as of today, I understand that their priority is promoting their business rather than the safety of girls from any underdeveloped country.

So I say I am pessimistic. I do not see social giant acting against such accounts until and unless they are heavily fined by international courts for their ignorance. And to the worst, those heavy fines may never come unless such incidents happen in the United States or developed countries of Europe.

I am feeling lost

I report such fake accounts every day. But in the absence of strong law from government and social giants’ not using proper tools to verify, this trend is growing enormously than expected. I am already feeling lost.

I wish I could fight for some more time.

I wish I was an actor/actress with large followers whose social media posts can be a talk of the town. I wish I was a minister of any province or a country who could advocate for a strong law against such an act. I wish I was a human rights activist or employer of giant INGOs to bring such matters internationally. I wish I was the CEO of any social networking to bring a change that could stop this.

Sadly, I am just a common stupid man who seems to have already lost this battle. I still fight and speak for this because I know at any day pictures of my little sister and daughters can get circulate and yet I never get to know about it. I want to report what I know now. I want to act what is possible now.

Shall we fight together?

Yet, I want to continue fighting this battle which I have already lost. Dear readers, if you want to support me, If you want to stop fake accounts from posting innocent girls’ pictures on social media, please take the necessary steps.

1. Do not follow or support fake accounts
2. Take a time to report every such suspicious account.
3. Do not buy a Twitter/Instagram account that was used by another person. Please build your social media followers on your own.
4. Talk/write against such malpractices.
5. And do not practice such growth policy on your own.

We can continue to report them until we win this battle.