Hate As Bait: The Instagram Network Using Far-Right Content To Lure Users To Porn
The article was published in The Lead.
Investigation by the Citizens, published in The Lead, has found an Instagram network of bait pages that is using hate content, especially anti-LGBTQ+ hate, to lure users to its pornography business. We have identified at least 14 pages currently known to be part of this network, with a collective following of well over 1.2 million. The Instagram pages are run by Jah Power Charles aka Jay C, who also owns the porn business QOD Models.
The network is not only capitalising on far-right hate within the bait news ecosystem, where charged and provocative posts are used to drive up engagement, but their audiences on the ‘news’ pages are continually signposted to linked pornography pages on Instagram. The porn pages advertise their OnlyFan streams that generate money through subscriptions.
The ‘news’ pages on this network fall under the imjustnews and balnews banners. While these pages claim to be putting out ‘real unbiased news’, in actuality it is a mish-mash of graphic content alongside hate-filled, one-sided and context-less posts that demonise various communities.