When Sarah Adams joined TikTok in summer 2021, she’d planned to use the platform as a creative space to share lighthearted parenting content.
Little did the married, stay-at-home mom of two know then that she’d soon be using the social site to blow the whistle on parents who allegedly are using Instagram to sexually exploit their daughters for money.
“I started out following some family influencer pages,” Adams, 37, of Vancouver, British Columbia, told The Post. “And I noticed that some parents are exploiting their daughters, having these young girls pose in leotards and bikinis, and using Instagram to get subscribers to pay for more ‘exclusive content.’ ”
“My heart dropped,” she said.
Adams had unintentionally stumbled upon what she calls a “ring” of moms and dads who have created Instagram profiles that feature scantily clad visuals of their tween and preteen daughters — many between the ages of 8 and 13 — and offer access to even more questionable pics behind a paywall.
The unnamed parents in question are charging subscribers between $1.29 and $12.49 per month for the sexually suggestive imagery, according to Adams.
And under the digital handle @Mom.uncharted, she’s shedding light on the alarming trend in a TikTok series titled “Mommy ran [Instagram] accounts.” Her clips, which thoroughly detail the child-endangering phenomenon, have gone viral on Reddit and TikTok. Some posts have amassed more than 1.2 million views. Outraged audiences have called parents who participate in the movement “f- -ked up” and “gross.”
A spokesperson from Meta, which owns Instagram, told The Post, “We take the safety of young people using our apps very seriously, we’re investigating these claims and will have more to share soon.”
But Adams fears that “loopholes” in the social platform’s terms of use policy have created an underworld where even babies can fall victim to online predators.
“Instagram says you’re not supposed to be on the platform until you’re 13, but if your parents or your manager is running the account it’s OK,” Adams said.
“They’ve allowed so many loopholes for parents to exploit their kids,” she continued. “There are babies with their own accounts and hundreds of thousands of followers. They can’t consent to what’s being posted, and they don’t understand the vastness of the internet or social media predators.”
According to reports, the FBI has estimated that a staggering 500,000 online predators are active on social media each day. And more than 50% of their victims are aged 12 to 15.
Through her own research, Adams has found that many of the “mommy ran” accounts have a followership made up of mostly men between the ages of 18 and 64.
“When I go over to the analytics [of some of these profiles] some have a 90% male audience,” she said.
Adams told The Post that she receives copies of the Instagram analytics via an unnamed associate who works in influencer marketing and has access to otherwise privileged information on API-developed apps.
“As for the women who follow these accounts,” she continued, “I’ve found that most of them are other moms of daughters who are also running a similar account for their own little girl.”
Adams worries that the children at the center of these exploitative accounts will sustain lasting traumas. And, per Manhattan psychologist Anne Josephson, her concerns are justified.
“Children who are sexually exploited by their parents could experience anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-esteem issues,” Josephson told The Post.
She also notes that being sexualized by mom and dad at an early age may lead kids to other sex work.
“They’re learning that their bodies can be used as currency in the world in which they’re not cognitively mature enough to understand,” added Josephson.
Adams is determined to put a stop to the indecency before it’s too late.
“Social media has become a massive part of our lives,” she said. “A whole generation of young girls could suffer if we don’t start prioritizing their safety now.”
