Sexual exploitation and abuse of children have transformed into a massive global trade worth billions of dollars. This disturbing truth about the profitable and immensely lucrative nature of this sector is exposed through recent research conducted by me and my collaborators at the University of Edinburgh. Global Child Safety Institute for Children .
Our new report Highlights how child abuse is not confined solely to clandestine corners of the dark web. According to an analysis of 20 documents from various fields (such as big data analyses, systematic reviews, discussion papers, and qualitative research), the document outlines the economic strategies facilitating such exploitation worldwide.
Our previous work It is estimated that 3.5% of children worldwide encountered sexual coercion over the past year. This occurs when children and their families are threatened with the dissemination of explicit material involving a child unless financial requests are met.
Those who benefit aren't just the offenders; financial institutions also stand to gain. technology firms and digital transaction systems — whether unwittingly or through neglect — help channel earnings derived from the exploitation of children. Part of this money passes through standard payment channels and ad revenue sources. In contrast, some monetary transactions are intentionally hidden using cryptocurrency and the deep web.
A number of groups proactively work on identifying and informing about such actions. Inhope , a worldwide hotline system, collaborates with law enforcement agencies and technology firms to eliminate child sexual abuse content and interrupt the related monetary flows. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children In the U.S., they handle reports from technology firms about child sexual abuse content, notifying both businesses and law enforcement agencies about unusual monetary transactions.
However, these systems continue to receive insufficient scrutiny or challenge from financial regulators and laws.
Sexual blackmail has led to the emergence of firms offering cybersecurity and reputation management solutions to those targeted, helping them fight back against the perpetrators. These services typically require an initial payment that can run into several thousand dollars. As such, it effectively compels victims to foot the bill for addressing the crimes committed against them.
There is also a market for the sale of child sexual abuse material, both recorded and livestreamed, delivering profit for the offender and the systems they use. One video file of on-demand child sexual abuse can cost $1,200). With the estimated prevalence of technology-facilitated abuse experienced by 300 million children Every year, this constitutes a huge sector.
The magnitude of profits is astounding when compared to the minimal cost paid by those who commit child sexual abuse. A striking statistic reveals that offenders have been known to pay as low as 27 pence (approximately 34 cents) to exploit children.
When considered as a whole, the industry is estimated to achieve several billion dollars yearly.
While the financial value placed on a child may be measured in pennies, the lifelong cost to that child in trauma, health and opportunity The impact is incalculable. It represents a nightmarish bazaar where profits are enormous and misery knows no bounds.
Changing markets
Our research further reveals how offenders quickly adapt their methods, continuously taking advantage of loopholes in laws and regulatory systems to keep engaging in harm against minors.
For instance, in the Philippines, we discover livestreaming hotspot That technology is allowing larger organized crime syndicates to be supplanted by smaller, secretive groups. Frequently functioning within familial structures, these criminals have thrived as criminal activities move online, aided by cryptocurrencies and digital payment platforms.
The proliferation and growing sophistication The advent of generative artificial intelligence has similarly introduced disturbing new possibilities. Individuals intent on harm can now create convincing, AI-generated child sexual abuse materials, utilizing images of actual children for blackmail purposes. This development complicates identification efforts and blurs lines around legal responsibility. Numerous legal systems are currently struggling to adapt.
Halting the cash flow and misuse
The global financial and technological systems—whether intentionally or not—are aiding in maintaining these illegal activities. Sometimes, income from ads shown alongside harmful material on popular sites ends up supporting criminal groups without much oversight. Additionally, cryptocurrencies facilitate swift and covert transactions between offenders and those who produce such content.
Preventing child sexual exploitation doesn’t have a universal solution, and the evolving landscape of both the marketplace and technology only adds complexity to this challenge.
A potential approach involves employing blocklists — catalogues of recognized child sexual abuse content that, upon identification, can be prohibited across various internet service providers. Such lists, assembled and distributed by entities like the Internet Watch Foundation, have become crucial for preventing individuals from viewing abusive materials.
Nevertheless, our discoveries remain unsettling. Globally, there are approximately five tries every second to access content that has previously been added to these blocklists.
It’s crucial to treat child sexual exploitation and abuse as a public health crisis and develop a unified approach to curb its escalation. Addressing this issue demands more than just responsive policing; it necessitates forward-thinking preventive tactics aimed at dismantling the economic and digital infrastructures supporting such crimes—such as enforcing regulations and penalties on financial entities failing to safeguard against misuse of their services.
Deborah Fry serves as a professor for global child protection studies and leads data efforts at the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, University of Edinburgh This piece has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Review the original article The viewpoints and personal beliefs stated in this commentary are exclusively the perspective of the writer.