It has been discovered that photos of their daughters, approximately 13 years old, in school uniforms posted by parents on Instagram are being used to promote Threads, a short message posting social networking site operated by Meta, to men in their 30s. Parents have strongly condemned Meta’s use of photos of underage children for advertising purposes, calling it outrageous and disgusting.

Parents outraged as Meta uses photos of schoolgirls in ads targeting man | Meta | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/20/parents-outraged-meta-uses-photos-schoolgirls-ads-man

A 37-year-old Instagram user from London said, ‘For several days, I was repeatedly shown Meta’s Threads ads. They were just photos posted by parents of their daughters in school uniforms, some of which even revealed their names.’ He said he had never posted or liked any similar images before seeing these ads.

The Guardian, a major daily newspaper, reported that the photos of the girls used by Meta to promote Threads were posted to Instagram by their parents to celebrate their children’s back-to-school days, etc. The photos of the children were highlighted as ‘recommended threads’ to third-party Instagram users.

One mother said that even though her Instagram account was set to private, her posts were automatically posted to Threads, making them visible to the public. The images all featured female students wearing short skirts and either bare legs or stockings.

The father of a 13-year-old girl used in Meta’s advertising said: ‘It’s absolutely outrageous. I was disgusted to learn that my daughter’s image was being sexualised by such a huge corporation to promote their products.’

In response to The Guardian’s inquiry, Meta said it encourages users to visit Threads by displaying publicly shared photos that comply with its community standards and recommended guidelines. It explained that its system does not recommend Threads posts shared by teenagers, but that photos posted by parents are not included.

The mother of a 15-year-old girl whose photo was featured in a promotional post with a large ‘Get Threads’ button said, ‘To me, it was just a photo of my daughter going to school. I had no idea Instagram was taking it and using it for promotion. It’s really awful. My daughter is still a minor.’ She claimed that if she had been asked for consent, she would have refused. ‘I could have all the money in the world, but I’m not going to allow them to use my girl in a school uniform to lure people to their platform,’ she said.

The mother only has 267 followers, and her regular posts don’t get many views, but her posts about her children have received nearly 7,000 views. 90% of the views are from non-followers, half of whom are over 44 years old, and 90% are men.

Another mother, whose 13-year-old’s post was used in a promotional post, said: ‘Meta did this on purpose without telling us because they wanted to create content. It’s despicable. Who is responsible for creating an ad for Threads using my child’s photo to promote the platform to older men?’

A 37-year-old man who received the advert featuring a photo of a girl in a school uniform said: ‘As a father myself, I find it extremely inappropriate for Meta to repurpose these posts into targeted promotions aimed at adults. To me, showcasing this content as trending or popular content is provocative and ultimately exploits the children and families involved, putting their online safety at risk.’

Bevan Kidron, a children’s rights activist and member of the House of Lords, said: ‘It is abhorrent that Meta would use school-age girls to promote its commercial services. At every opportunity, Meta has prioritized profits over safety and growth over children’s privacy rights. This is why they thought it was appropriate to send photos of schoolgirls to a 37-year-old man as bait.’