Meta 'served sex ads to adults following kids on Instagram'

Plus, the copyright lawyer fighting Big Tech on AI, jobs slashed at TikTok, Vanity Fair staff say cuts will kill culture, Zoom fatigue is official, and more

Morning and welcome to Scotch and Watch Wednesday. These are the stories my network and I are sharing.

We begin with more excellent reporting on an emerging scandal of harmful content being targeted at children by Meta-owned Instagram.

The Wall Street Journal set up accounts on Reels, (Instagram’s TikTok clone) for young gymnasts, cheerleaders and other teen and preteen influencers to see what it’s algorithm would recommend.

“Instagram’s system served jarring doses of salacious content to those test accounts, including risqué footage of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos - and ads for some of the biggest US brands,” The Journal reported.

Disney, Walmart, online dating company Match, and The Wall Street Journal itself saw their ads next to disturbing content.

The Journal said: “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 …