Mapping Sector Capacity to Respond to Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Abuse in Australia

This chapter examines the phenomenon of internet users attempting to report and prevent online child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in the absence of adequate intervention by internet service providers, social media platforms, and government. The chapter discusses the history of online CSE, focusing on regulatory stances over time in which online risks to children have been cast as natural and inevitable by the hegemony of a “cyberlibertarian” ideology. We illustrate the success of this ideology, as well as its profound contradictions and ethical failures, by presenting key examples in which internet users have taken decisive action to prevent online CSE and promote the removal of CSAM. Rejecting simplistic characterizations of “vigilante justice,” we argue instead that the fact that often young internet users report feeling forced to act against online CSE and CSAM undercuts libertarian claims that internet regulation is impossible, unworkable, and unwanted. Recent shifts toward a more progressive ethos of online harm minimization are promising; however, this ethos risks offering a new legitimizing ideology for online business models that will continue to put children at risk of abuse and exploitation. In conclusion, we suggest ways forward toward an internet built in the interests of children, rather than profit.

Child Sexual Abuse: Ethics and Evidence

Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is illegal in most jurisdictions. Its illegality appears self-evident, conjuring visceral feelings of fear, disgust, and anger at humanity’s ability to commit, record, and view unspeakable acts of violence against its most vulnerable. The feeling is sustained by the apparent size of the problem, with the leading US clearinghouse receiving reports of nearly 36 million items of suspected CSAM in 2023. The sheer scale has nourished a global ecosystem of governments, tech companies, law enforcement, clearinghouses, and advocacy groups committed to detecting, collecting, reporting, and removing child sexual material (CSM), predominantly through computer vision–based systems. This article is about this CSM detection ecosystem, what it contains and leaves out, and what its formation reveals about the sociotechnical and political construction of online child sexual abuse. A focused examination of the CSM detection ecosystem reveals that CSAM is a legal and regulatory object through which projections, anxieties, and silences about child sexual abuse are encoded and enforced. The article begins with an overview of conventional and online child sexual abuse. Investigating CSAM as a legal object demonstrates how its definition and measurement under US federal law reifies protectionist understandings of children, bodies, and sexuality. These legal assumptions are enforced computationally through a CSM detection ecosystem that prioritizes tech solutionism and policing over help-seeking, harm prevention, and healthy sexual development. As a regulatory object, CSAM serves as a justification for implementing unreliable or ineffective technical measures such as client-side scanning that pose serious threats to the privacy and security of both children and adults.

Child sexual exploitation and abuse in digital environments: Mapping two decades of research.

Review question/objective The objective of this review is to describe commercial sexual exploitation as experienced by adolescents in the United States. The specific review question is: how do adolescent victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States describe their experiences with regard to their abuse and their engagement with the legal, health care and social service systems? Background Human trafficking is defined as any act that involves “the recruitment, abduction,…[and] sale or receipt of persons within national or across international borders, through force, coercion, fraud, or deception.”1(para5) Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Youth (CSEY) is a component of human trafficking that refers to the sexual abuse of a child or adolescent (under 18 years of age) for financial gain. This sexual abuse can take the form of physical abuse, child pornography or prostitution.2 In Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America, human trafficking is recognized as a global problem.3–7 The International Organization for Migration collects data on the individuals assisted through counter trafficking programs implemented in more than 100 countries worldwide. Of the human trafficking victims included in the database, 27% were sexually exploited and 36% were under the age of 18.8 Estimates of the true prevalence of this crime are difficult to obtain for a variety of reasons. Perpetrators are able to evade law enforcement by frequently moving child and adolescent victims across borders and by the use of discreet online advertising to market them.9 Law enforcement agencies are unable to detect many cases because the victims are young, often recruited between the ages of nine and 12 when they are particularly vulnerable and as a result are unlikely to report their abuse. Furthermore, victims might appear older than their stated age or carry false identification.10 In a report regarding CSEY in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Estes and Weiner identified several groups at risk for exploitation as minors.11 The groups included: runaways, homeless youth, gang members, transgender street youth, unaccompanied minors or those brought into the United States illegally, abandoned, forced to leave home or are living within close proximity to a Mexican or Canadian border city. Among these groups, Estes and Weiner conservatively estimate that more than 244,000 youth are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation. In California, a border state with high rates of human trafficking cases, there are nine statewide taskforces dedicated to increasing the identification of victims, investigations and arrests for human trafficking. Between the years 2010 and 2012, 1277 child and adolescent victims were identified.10 Fifty-six percent of those cases involved sex trafficking. The Human Trafficking Reporting System is an agency that compiles information gathered from local and state law enforcement agencies on human trafficking in the United States. Although there are no estimates of the overall number of child and adolescent victims, the data indicates that 82% of suspected trafficking incidents are sexual in nature and greater than 1000 of the incidents reported between 2008 and 2010 involved CSEY.12 Characteristics of victims of commercial sexual exploitation Several characteristics of CSEY victims have been identified in research literature. According to two sources, CSEY victims were most likely to be female (≥99%), 16–18 years of age and African American (66%) and to have previous involvement with either the criminal justice or foster youth systems.13–14 Internationally, poverty is a common characteristic of victims3–7 and could be a contributing reason for the racial disparity in the United States. In a study of 113 previously sexually exploited minors, 75% reported experiencing child abuse or neglect, more than half (55%) had been abandoned by parents or guardians, and many were exposed to parents' criminal/prostitution activities or substance use.15 According to the authors of the report, the experience of these disruptive family processes can lead to maladaptive coping strategies. Participants reported severe substance abuse (31%), self-injurious behaviors (35%), and having run away (62% reporting having done so multiple times each month) as some of the most destructive behaviors. Frequently, running away had led to exposure to unsafe environments and engaging in dangerous or illegal activities as well.15 Although the majority who reported substance use did not meet the criteria for a disorder, substance use is common, with 70–100% of CSEY victims using alcohol, marijuana or ecstasy as drugs of choice.16 Substance use was a common theme in multiple studies indicating that victims of CSEY are more likely to not only use substances more frequently than adolescents who are not commercially sexually exploited, but to begin use at a younger age and to sell drugs as well, thus adding to their risk for legal repercussions associated with illegal activities.17–18 Sequelae of commercial sexual exploitation and barriers to breaking the cycle In a nationwide United States study examining characteristics of CSEY victims compared to child sexual abuse victims, multiple forms of trauma were identified in both groups, including physical and emotional abuse, neglect and domestic violence in addition to sexual trauma.19 A report produced by the West Coast Children's Clinic in California identified the mental health consequences of CSEY associated with the experience of ongoing trauma. The most common disorders diagnosed among CSEY victims were depression, anxiety, anger control issues and attachment disorder, with each individual diagnosis occurring in more than 50% of the sample.15 Despite the harm caused by these exploitative relationships, CSEY victims remain captive due to their basic need for food, shelter and safety. In Carr's study of 31 sexually exploited minors, participants reported strong motivations to continue prostitution, such as fear of physical abuse for refusing, lack of money for food, clothing and shelter, supporting a drug habit, or the exploiter wanting them to do so.20 Exploiters also used a variety of tactics to manipulate the victims. This included exploiting the relationship as a boyfriend/friend, requiring the payment of a debt, or forcing the victim to commit criminal offenses with the exploiter to maintain loyalty.21 Lack of confidence in academic skills, uncertainty about housing, and difficulty finding employment further contributed to the significant barriers to ending exploitative relationships and reintegrating into the community.16 The needs of CSEY victims are broad and varied. To develop effective support and treatment programs, it is necessary to understand the experiences of individuals affected by the abuse. The purpose of this review is to synthesize qualitative evidence with regard to commercial sexual exploitation and to strengthen the knowledge base for providers who treat the adolescent victims. A preliminary search of the Joanna Briggs Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PubMed was conducted. While there was one abstract identified in the Cochrane Library that addressed internet-specific sexual exploitation of youth,22 there were no systematic reviews or protocols identified that addressed the experience of commercial sexual exploitation among adolescents in the United States from the perspective of the victim nor any focusing on qualitative evidence. Much of the research literature focused on screening and identification in primary care and emergency settings. Inclusion criteria Types of participants This review will consider studies that include participants who are or were victims of human trafficking, specifically commercial sexual exploitation, aged 18 years of age or younger at the time they experienced it. Types of abuse experienced in commercial sexual exploitation include, but are not limited to, physical abuse, child pornography and/or prostitution. Victims of child or adolescent sexual abuse or human trafficking who have not been commercially sexually exploited will not be included in this review. Phenomena of interest The phenomenon of interest is the self-reported experiences of victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Of particular interest is the effect of repeated traumatic experiences on mental and physical health as a result of the abuse and the identification of short- and long-term care needs for victims. Additionally, educational achievement, employment, and meeting basic needs for food and housing in the community are public health needs of this population and will also be considered. Ongoing involvement of victims with law enforcement will also be included in this review as continued engagement with the law enforcement system is prohibitive to meeting their other developmental needs. Context The geographic context for this review is commercial sexual exploitation that has taken place in the United States. Since commercial sexual exploitation is a covert and illegal activity, research involving victims might occur in a variety of social and cultural contexts, and health or community settings. Types of studies The review will focus on qualitative data from studies including, but not limited to, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research. Search strategy The search strategy aims to find both published and unpublished studies. A three-step search strategy will be utilized in this review. First, we will conduct a limited search of PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO to identify and analyze text words contained in the title and abstract, as well as index terms used to describe the article. Second, we will search all databases using all identified keywords and index terms. Third, we will search the reference list of all identified reports and articles for additional studies. Studies published in English since the year 2000 (the year the Federal Bureau of Investigation established the Crimes Against Children Program23 ) will be considered for inclusion in the review. The databases to be searched include: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and ERIC. The search for unpublished studies will include: Google Scholar, PsycEXTRA, MedNar, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and conference proceedings. Initial keywords to be used will be: commercial sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, and sexual slavery in combination with adolescent, teen, youth, juvenile or minor. Assessment of methodological quality Two independent reviewers will assess the selected studies for methodological validity prior to inclusion in the review using the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-QARI), a standardized critical appraisal instrument (Appendix I). Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion or with a third reviewer. Data extraction Data will be extracted from papers included in the review using the standardized data extraction tool from JBI-QARI (Appendix II). The data extracted will include specific details about the phenomena of interest, population, study methods, and outcomes of significance to the review question and objectives. Data synthesis Qualitative research findings will, where possible be pooled using JBI-QARI. This will involve the aggregation or synthesis of findings to generate a set of statements that represent the experience of commercial sexual exploitation for adolescents. The findings will be aggregated and assembled according to the quality of studies and categorized on the basis of their similarity in meaning. These categories will then be subjected to a meta-synthesis in order to produce a comprehensive set of synthesized findings that can be used as a basis for evidence-based practice. Where textual pooling is not possible the findings will be presented in narrative form. Conflicts of interest The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

We analysed the chat logs of seven Australia-based men who had committed 145 child sexual abuse (CSA) live streaming offences, to examine the overlap between this offending, contact sexual offending and engagement with child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Four CSA live streaming offenders attempted to travel to offend against victims in person, in that they discussed travelling or actually booked flights in order to meet these children. Offenders also requested or received images and videos of victims they had viewed over live stream, and recorded live streams to produce CSAM. Travelling to offend against children, use of CSAM and CSA live streaming appear to be interrelated and should be considered by law enforcement as potential risk factors for one another. Further, detection and removal of new CSAM, and scanning of live streams for abusive content, should be a priority for all electronic service providers.

AttM-CNN: Attention and metric learning based CNN for pornography, age and Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Detection in images

Father-Daughter Incest

This study focusses on the potential effects of virtual child pornography on the sexual abuse of children, which is a widespread problem. Recent news items about child sexual abusers have brought the issue of pedophilia into the public eye. The media uses these two terms interchangeably. However, there is an essential difference between pedosexuals (those who sexually abuse children) and pedophiles (those who are sexually attracted to children). It is important to notice that not all pedophiles abuse children and not all pedosexuals feel sexually attracted to children. The research question is if virtual child pornography can prevent pedophiles from converting their fantasies into sexual acts. Literature retrieved by a search using PubMed. Sixty-four articles dealing with child sexual abuse, pedophilia, possible treatments for pedophilia and the effects of (virtual) child pornography were analyzed. Furthermore, information on treatment in the Netherlands was requested from the Hotline Child Pornography and an interview was arranged with Jules Mulder, therapist of pedosexuals and pedophiles at forensic psychiatric center De Waag in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Pedophilia is manifested mostly in downloading child pornography. The amount of child pornographic material available has increased dramatically. Earlier research on the characteristics of child pornography downloaders showed that there is great diversity among them; pedophiles are present in all layers of society. Despite that not all pedophiles act on their feelings there is still an elevated risk of abusing young children sexually. Therefore, preventive treatment is very important. Unfortunately, there is limited research performed on treatment for pedophilia. Experts suggest that impulse control is the highest achievable and pedophilia cannot be cured. Child pornography can be used for impulse control. Research performed in various countries showed that when downloading child pornography was allowed, the number of sexually abused children decreased. Child pornography can provide pedophiles in their sexual needs and may prevent that they will abuse young children in the future. However, the provision of child pornography as part of a treatment gives rise to an ethical dilemma, because it indirectly maintains sexual child abuse. Therefore virtual child pornography could be a solution. Further research is needed on the effects of virtual child pornography, taking into account the heterogeneity among pedophiles.

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and the production, use, and distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) are key threats to children’s mental health. From the perspective of indicated prevention, it can be assumed that some persons with a sexual interest in children commit such unreported crimes. Accordingly, the German Network kein Täter werden (meaning do not offend) has implemented a confidential treatment service for persons with a sexual interest in minors who voluntarily seek therapy, might or might not have offended but have not yet been detected or have fulfilled all legal requirements (here referred to as non-forensic individuals). However, this offer has been questioned for investing resources in a group which critics consider as low risk. The following study addresses the question of recidivism risks for CSA or viewing CSAM among non-forensic individuals. We found significantly higher rates of CSA/CSAM in our participants’ history compared to a German study on a representative sample of males. Regarding CSAM, the recidivism rate of 39% was found to be 11 times higher than the expected recidivism rate based on previous publications. Regarding CSA, the recidivism rate of 14% was not significantly different from the expected rate reported for subjects with a conviction for a sexual contact offense. Among various risk instruments, only the CPORT with CASIC rating was able to predict CSA (AUC = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.55, 0.82) and CSAM (AUC = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.53, 0.73) among individuals with a history of CSAM, but with poor discrimination. We conclude that a large proportion of our sample poses a substantial risk and therefore treatment resources are well invested. However, further studies are needed to improve risk assessment among non-forensic clients.

The media has a powerful ability to shape public perceptions. Given the current disjuncture between social attitudes and the law in relation to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) it is important to explore the representation of CSAM offenders in the media. The aim of this exploratory study was to identify how CSAM offenders are depicted in the print media. Newspaper articles published from 1 August 2019 to 31 August 2020 on CSAM offenders in Western countries were searched. A qualitative content analysis was employed, revealing three themes across the 56 articles: (1) the headings of the articles downplayed the abusive offending; (2) offender’s motivations indicate heterogeneity in offending; and (3) sentencing remarks communicated denunciation and the harms of offending. While the first theme identified that there is still space for improvement in the reporting of these crimes, the second theme indicates the various motivations portrayed should assist the public in identifying that these offenders are heterogenous in their motivations, thus potentially countering some previously held stereotypes. Finally, the denunciation and the harms taken from the messages delivered by the judiciary in the sentencing remarks could offer a positive educational tool for some members of the public. These findings should be valuable for media, law enforcement, and psychology disciplines.

Individuals engaging in child sexual abuse often present pedophilic interest, but the other psychiatric morbidities among undetected users of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are largely unknown. We mapped the psychiatric profile of 160 mainly male and primarily non-convicted anonymous Darknet-recruited adult CSAM users. The participants’ psychiatric morbidities were analyzed descriptively, and correlations between sexual pathologies known as risk factors for committing child sexual abuse (paraphilias, hypersexuality) and CSAM offense behavior (viewing time, content) were examined in a series of exploratory linear regression models. Pedophilic interests, hypersexuality, autism traits, ADHD, and depression were commonly reported. Further, hypersexuality was associated with CSAM viewing time (r = .295, b = 0.07, p = .001), zoophilic interest was associated with CSAM severity (r = .195, b = 0.46, p = .003) and both zoophilic and pedophilic sexual interest were associated with the age of the youngest child in CSAM viewed (r = −.218, b = −0.56, p = .01 and r = −.273, b = −1.01, p < .001). We conclude that CSAM users presented sexual pathologies, some related to their CSAM-use behavior, as well as multiple other mental health needs.

Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) and the associated distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are serious offences online and offline. They are exacerbated by the increased popularity of dark web markets, in which vendors and buyers can exchange CSAM while hiding their identities. The aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of the CSEA landscape in dark web markets. We reviewed and collated four groups of keywords (a total of 198) for the detection/discovery of potential CSAM on the dark web market. This allowed us to conduct a systematic data collection (i.e., scraping) on dark web markets containing CSAM to create a new text-based dataset and perform further analysis. We found that CSAM is more public in the Chinese market, but not in the mainstream English market. To illustrate this point, we detected 724 CSAM items in the two Chinese dark web markets studied, but none in the eight English markets. While the prices of these CSAM remain low, we found that there were 3,449 sales over the 44-week observation period, implying that CSAM has been commercialised to some extent. We also noticed that mainstream cloud-based data storage services were used for the distribution and sharing of CSAM. We hope that the findings presented in this paper can help relevant stakeholders to understand the CSAM landscape in the dark web market better, which in turn may be used to devise more effective countermeasures to combat CSEA and CSAM.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) exist in a "Dark Field" (German: Dunkelfeld), where a vast majority of incidents occur without ever becoming known to authorities. Therapy is a potential strategy in reducing CSA offence risk and CSAM consumption. However, public stigma towards individuals with a sexual interest in children (ISIC) is extensive and hostile to a level that discourages engagement of ISIC in therapy. Implementation of measures to reduce the barriers to therapy for ISIC is critical to improve the mental well-being of ISIC, improve coping strategies, and thereby reduce CSA and CSAM. In this paper, we examine ISIC treatment anxieties and show that anonymity increases ISIC comfort towards the prospect of engaging in therapy. Our findings indicate that anonymous digital therapy could increase engagement in therapy for pedohebephilia by ISIC.

Disclosure rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) to both social supports and law enforcement are concerningly low, although more research is needed to understand factors that impact disclosure. Thus, the present study examined rates of informal (i.e., to a social support) and formal (i.e., to law enforcement) disclosure of CSA, as well as victims' self-reported experiences with telling others about their own abuse and their perceptions of the overall advantages and disadvantages of disclosure. In all, 76 undergraduate women (who collectively experienced 105 instances of abuse) participated in a semi-structured interview regarding their history of CSA. Results revealed that approximately 50% of cases involved the victim informally disclosing, and only 10% of cases being formally disclosed to authorities. The quantitative and qualitative data shed light on a number of factors that lead victims to not disclose, as well as the identification of factors that may promote a victim to share their abuse with others. The implications for improved prevention and responses to CSA disclosure are discussed.