Instagram is no doubt one of the most popular photo-sharing app which has a huge user base comprising cine celebrities, sport-stars and also common citizens. There are some 120 million active users in India alone. The platform which started off as a medium to share photos is fast changing into a marketplace to sell sex.

According to a report in a leading English daily, women put up coded messages to lure men into sexting which they hope would eventually lead to sex. But all this comes at a price. You could even pay them using digital payment platforms like. These accounts display images of women in skimpy outfits with details of services offered and also some explicit pornographic content at times! According to a study, 35-40% of downloads in India is porn.

The report also states that there are instagram accounts that promote child pornography. In the name of paytm girls, these women offer video call, audio call, sexting or even sharing of obscene pictures for a price! At times there are even live videos. But strangely enough, the paper which carried this report after extensive research and investigation found that most of these users handles were handled by men!

So, what are the charges?

Well a five minute video call could cost you Rs 100 while you may have to shell out around Rs 150 if you want to stretch it to 10 minutes and Rs 180 for 15 minutes. An hour's video call comes at Rs 500. You could have a sex chat sans pictures with pictures for Rs 150 while an audio call without pictures would be Rs 200. All these calls and chats are exchanged via Whatsapp, as per the report.

Instagram admins who were notified about this are now on damage control mode. They are believed to have removed such accounts and also in the process of completing eliminating porn from the photo-sharing app. A spokesperson also told the English daily that Instagram was against advocacy of commercial sex and would go all out to protect the privacy of its users while keeping the platform safe to use and free from such explicit sexual content.

Also Read: How Partner Merchants Can Benefit From Paytm’s New Feature