We wanted to intercept online predators precisely at a private moment when they thought it was safe to search for, and target, vulnerable youth—and deter these predators from continuing with their search now, and in the future. Using hashtags that predators search for, like #preteen (66,973), #underage (64,444), #jailbait (37, 889), #nudeselfies (34,773), #youngteen (15,950) etc., we seeded numerous photos of teens onto Instagram. When predators searched for these hashtags, our photos would be among those in the search results. Those who tried to connect with our profile would encounter a jail cell mosaic made from Instagram’s photo grid, along with a deterrent message: “If you’re searching for underage teens, then we’re searching for you. Undercover officers are online.”

We created numerous Instagram profiles with different teen images, and used Instagram’s photo grid interface to create a jail cell. Using these profiles, every few days for 6 weeks, we seeded a new teen photo onto Instagram with a different group of hashtags, like #preteen, #underage, #jailbait, #nudeselfies, #youngteen, etc. This allowed our photos to stay near the top of the search results for predators to find.

Due to the deterrent nature of this campaign, those who visited our Instagram profile would be unlikely to follow our profile, like our photos, or progress any further with their search. With this deterrent strategy in mind, and the unavailability of analytics to track visits to an Instagram photo or profile page, measurable results are not available. But it is worth noting that the hashtags we used are constantly being used by young teens: #underage (64,444), #jailbait (37, 889), #youngteen (15,950), #preteen (66,973), #nudeselfies (34,773). It’s the popularity of questionable hashtags like these among teens that help classify photos for online predators, and make it easy for them to search and target vulnerable youth.