Child Exploitation Internet Digital Crimes Prevention

The production and distribution of child sexual abuse/exploitation material (CSA/EM) is horrendous and should be restricted as far as is possible. This is one of the most heinous types of crimes imaginable, and it is sure to have enormous harmful effect on people and society as a whole the longer it is allowed to go on.

For children, the psychological trauma of having their abuse recorded and shared is bound to worsen feelings of shame, violation, fear, and helplessness. Unsurprisingly, Acar (2017) reports that children who are coerced into live-streamed abuse or webcam exploitation experience emotional distress. They have to interact with their abusers in real-time, and the abuse is captured and streamed out to others who are watching. The child is basically an instrument for the sick entertainment of people all over the world. It is broadcasted and captured in digital form. Broadhurst (2019) shows that the widespread circulation of such material makes it so that the abuse is never really over for the victim. Even after physical abuse ends, the knowledge that images or videos of the abuse are out there and can be brought up at any time can create for the victim a state of perpetual insecurity, of perpetual abusiveness. At the social level, the distribution of CSA/EM is like a sick fuel that makes the fire of abuse worse, as other criminals grow their need for more content. This contributes to the cycle of abuse where traffickers, abusers, and online platforms exploit children for profit. The digital permanence normalizes this abuse and desensitizes the public to it, which just makes it harder to for this type of exploitation to be ended.

The mode used to capture CSA/EM also affects the child’s experience and the nature of the abuse. Live-streamed abuse, for example, is awful because, as Horsman (2018) notes, the real-time nature of live-streamed exploitation increases the psychological pressure on victims, as they have to comply with the immediate demands of perpetrators who may be interacting with them remotely. Unlike recorded materials, live streaming creates an environment where abuse occurs in direct response to real-time audience requests, intensifying the victim\\\\\\\'s trauma because the audience is so large and in charge. Varrella (2017) explains how live streaming has become a preferred method for abusers due to the difficulty of tracing the content, so that it is hard for law enforcement to intervene. Perpetrators act with impunity. Compared to recorded content, which can be used to identify and track offenders after the fact, live-streamed abuse disappears instantly unless explicitly captured.

One question that emerges from these readings is: What legal and technological measures can be implemented to detect and prevent live-streamed child sexual abuse more effectively?

One approach is the development of AI tools that can detect suspicious content in real-time. Horsman (2018) explains that forensic examination of live-streaming platforms is challenging because content is not stored permanently, so it is difficult to gather evidence. However, AI-based monitoring can analyze streaming behavior, flag high-risk interactions, and alert law enforcement in real-time. On top of this, there should be international legislative cooperation to close jurisdictional loopholes and allow perpetrators to exploit different legal frameworks. There should be mandatory identity verification for users on live-streaming platforms to set up another deterrent to potential offenders.