Axis Ideas

1. Teens Fight Back What it is: Meme accounts on Instagram, many of which are run by teens, are spamming certain hashtags to thwart child p*rnographers’ efforts to reach more people. Why it's innovative: The hashtags in question are seemingly innocuous ( #dropboxlinks, #tradedropbox), but the teenagers discovered that p*rnographers would covertly advertise “young boys” or “young girl links” in their posts, then DM links with illicit images to anyone who commented on the posts or used the hashtags. When reported, Instagram initially responded by saying that their Terms of Use had not been violated, so the memers banded together to overwhelm the hashtags with memes, thus making the p*rnographers’ posts harder to find. We love their ingenuity and willingness to take action, but it’s clear that we need to talk with our kids about this sad reality and what to do if they come across it. (Instagram has since deactivated some hashtags, but that just means new ones will be used.)   2. Danger on Discord What it is: Fre