The future we want for the internet? Child sexual abuse, offenders, and the apps they use to avoid detection.

New research shows online offenders are choosing end-to-end encrypted messaging apps to contact children and to spread child sexual abuse material amid renewed calls for Meta to rethink its planned roll out of end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messsenger.

This new episode from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) focuses on new research from Finnish child protection agency Suojellaan Lapsia which shows how offenders operate and the methods they use.

In conversation with Tegan Insoll, Head of Research at Suojellaan Lapsia, and Dan Sexton, Chief Technology Officer at the IWF.

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The increase in self-generated child sexual abuse content is alarming. In 2022, more than three quarters (78%) of the webpages IWF identified as containing child sexual abuse material were tech-enabled, ie created via smartphones or webcams without the offender being physically present in the room with the child. As we release the Talk Trust Empower report, this episode delves into how children – many of them of primary school age – are groomed and extorted into producing self-generated imagery, how the IWF is working to raising awareness of the phenomenon and what can be done by parents and carers to help children navigate dangers online.

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In Conversation With Thorn’s Head of Data Science Rebecca Portnoff and IWF Chief Technology Officer Dan Sexton.

This episode explores what needs to be done to try and control the explosion in harmful AI-generated child abuse imagery and how other AI or machine-learning tools could be used to counter the phenomenon.

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