Why is Threads recommending these weird spammy posts from people looking for 'friends'?

Threads users have been noticing strange posts in their recommendations, featuring selfies of young people claiming to be 18 and looking for "friends." These posts often appear in the "related threads" feature, which surfaces recommended content to logged-out users. It's unclear why these posts are being suggested, but they seem to be part of a spam campaign. The posts typically feature a selfie followed by a WhatsApp link, and the same users have posted the same content multiple times. Meta exec Adam Mosseri said they've seen an increase in "spam attacks" since the service launched, but it's bizarre that these posts are being recommended so frequently. Meta confirmed that spammy posts shouldn't be featured as recommended content, but they didn't respond to specific questions about these posts. Similar spammy posts have also been appearing as recommendations on Instagram. Users have been reporting these spam accounts, but they continue to show up in their recommendations. The exact same selfie and text have been shared by multiple accounts, and searches on Threads show numerous accounts sharing similar posts.