WASHINGTON, DC (November 27, 2023) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is calling on Disney to stop advertising on Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram after a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed ads for Disneyland ran next to sexually exploitative content.
“Ads encouraging users to visit Disneyland for the holidays ran next to a video of an adult acting out having sex with her father, and another of a young woman in lingerie with fake blood dripping from her mouth,” according to the Wall Street Journal. While dating apps Bumble and Match immediately stopped advertising on Meta – citing concern that their brands were being marketed to predators – Disney is merely “working to address the issue” with Meta.
“Disney should immediately halt advertising on Meta-owned platforms as evidence continues to increase that Meta is fueling child sexual exploitation. A child-centric brand like Disney has no business partnering with a corporation which has consistently enabled predators to target children and teens and has been repeatedly exposed for knowingly pushing harmful content to young people,” said Lina Nealon, Vice President and Director of Corporate Advocacy, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“For years, Meta-owned Instagram in particular has been proven to be among the most dangerous apps for children and a platform of choice for obtaining and sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). How many investigative reports, whistleblowers, and survivor testimonies will it take for supposedly family-friendly corporations like Disney, Walmart, and Pizza Hut to no longer be complicit in driving the profits of one of the world’s largest enablers of child sexual exploitation? We are grateful that Bumble and Match have prioritized people over profit, immediately suspending their ads on Meta. Meta must face accountability – and their advertisers’ actions may be what finally incentivizes the tech giant to do the right thing and prioritize user safety.”
Instagram is on NCOSE’s 2023 Dirty Dozen List of mainstream contributors to sexual exploitation. Meta was on the 2022 Dirty Dozen List for its negligence as a parent company.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
