Saving children from sexual predators in the digital age NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
13 June 2025Leah, 17, was able to set up an account using a fake driving licence and sell explicit videos. OnlyFans was a big winner during the pandemic, exploding in popularity as much of the world was housebound. The social media platform has grown nearly 10-fold since 2019, and now has more than 120 million users. The UK’s most senior police officer for child protection also says children are being “exploited” child porn on the platform. The goal is to increase the chances of users being exposed to advertisements.
Pornhub accusé de diffuser sciemment des vidéos de viols et d’abus sexuels
- Although there are ways in which kids are vulnerable online, there are proactive steps that parents, caregivers and other loving adults can take to increase safety.
- Excuses such as “they’re smiling so they must be okay” ignore that these children and youth are being told what to do by adults, may be threatened to do this, and are not legally able to consent.
- Many states have enacted laws against AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), but these may conflict with the Ashcroft ruling.
- Laws like these that encompass images produced without depictions of real minors might run counter to the Supreme Court’s Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition ruling.
It also goes to show how successful the abusers are at manipulating very young children into sexual behaviour that the child is unlikely to have previously been aware of. It also demonstrates the dangers of allowing a young child unsupervised access to an internet enabled device with a camera. The institute noted that while child sex crimes were rife in multiple countries, the Philippines has been identified by international law enforcement agencies, NGOs and academics as the global ‘hub’ for live streaming such material. Children who are the subject of child sexual abuse materials may be worried about talking about what has happened to them.
We are better prepared to speak up whenever someone is acting unsafely around a child, regardless of what we know about their mental health or attractions. But BBC News has investigated concerns that under-18s are selling explicit videos on the site, despite it being illegal for individuals to post or share indecent images of children. In the last year, a number of paedophiles have been charged after creating AI child abuse images, including Neil Darlington who used AI while trying to blackmail girls into sending him explicit images. “This new technology is transforming how child sexual abuse material is being produced,” said Professor Clare McGlynn, a legal expert who specialises in online abuse and pornography at Durham University.
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OnlyFans says it works with online exploitation agencies like NCMEC to raise any potential issues with the relevant authorities. Cody had previously showered him with gifts on his 16th birthday, and admitted to earning the money by selling nudes online “to some old guy”, she added. “He was elated that they were making such an amazing amount of money for just having sex on camera for other people to watch,” says a woman who has known Aaron for many years. BBC News also heard of other cases of underage children gaining access to OnlyFans. Leah stopped posting on OnlyFans, but her account remained active on the site four months later, with more than 50 archived pictures and videos.
The term ‘self-generated’ imagery refers to images and videos created using handheld devices or webcams and then shared online. Children are often groomed or extorted into capturing images or videos of themselves and sharing them by someone who is not physically present in the room with them, for example, on live streams or in chat rooms. Sometimes children are completely unaware they are being recorded and that there is then a image or video of them being shared by abusers.
Earlier this year, Philippine police set up a new anti-child abuse centre in the country’s capital, Manila, to fight the growing problem, helped by funding and training from British and Australian police. “All he wanted from me is to pass videos to him of children having sex. It didn’t matter to him where this took place.” Many of those buying the films specify what they want done to the children, with the resulting film then either live-streamed or posted online to the abuser, who watches it from their home.