Instagram beauty contests worry parents

The photo-sharing site Instagram has become wildly popular as a way to trade pictures of pets and friends. But a new trend on the site is making parents cringe: beauty pageants, in which thousands of young girls many appearing no older than 12 or 13 submit photographs of themselves for others to judge.

In one case, the mug shots of four girls, middle-school-age or younger, have been pitted against each other. One is all dimples, wearing a hair bow and a big, toothy grin. Another is trying out a pensive, sultry look.

Any of Instagrams 30 million users can vote on the appearance of the girls in a comments section of the post. Once a girls photo receives a certain number of negative remarks, the pageant host, who can remain anonymous, can update it with a big red X or the word OUT scratched across her face.

U.G.L.Y, wrote one user about a girl, who submitted her photo to one of the pageants identified on Instagram by the keyword #beautycontest.

Full article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/instagram-beauty-contests-worry-parents-child-privacy-advocates/2013/04/05/ad6c7638-9e19-11e2-a2db-efc5298a95e1_story.html