CSAM Viewers Seek Direct Contact with Children Online
A survey conducted by the human rights group Protect Children has found that 42% of those who watch Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) seek direct contact with children through online platforms afterwards.
The largest ever survey of its kind, found significant evidence that those who watch illegal sexual material, such as CSAM are at high risk of contacting, or even directly abusing children. The Finnish human right group placed surveys on the Darknet, tagging code words used by individuals who are searching for CSAM and with 15,000 responses nearly half or 42% had said to have sought out direct contact with children through online platforms after they had viewed such material. A further 58%stated that they felt afraid that viewing illegal content like CSAM would cause them to commit abuse towards a person or child.
This ground breaking research, carried out further studies with 1,500 of the 15,000 participants, in order to gain a further understanding as the study has come at a time when the numbers of men being arrested in the UK is rising.
Specialist Researcher of Protect Children- Tegan Insoll- told The Guardian newspaper the these new findings are “really significant” and that due to the fact that many offenders claim that watching illegal material does not have a direct impact or extend to children being harmed, there is now substantial evidence that watching such material “can increase the risk of contact”.
The survey also found that there are many other factors which are directly linked to dangerous and predatory behaviour. Often the younger the child within the material, the more likely the viewer is to go and search for contact and similarly the frequency of watching CSAM corresponds with the age at which the viewer was first introduced to that form of illegal content. This was echoed by the research further, as it was found that most respondents had been exposed to this type of material before the age of 18.
Escalating porn habits are not only dangerous for its victims, but also for its viewers, however there is support for those who wish to stop the escalation of this behaviour from helplines such Stop It Now! who during 2021 were contacted by 165,000 people by phoning or through their online portal, double that of 2020. This figure can only be explained due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic resulting in more isolation, working from home and even redundancies having an effect on the mental health of many and furthermore the escalation of porn habits.
Over 2,000 people, after being notified about their behaviour on porn sites whilst they searched for underage material on these platforms, visited the Stop It Now! online help website. Accountability is taken by the director of Stop It Now!- Donald Findlater who said despite many of those who contact the service having had issues with child pornography and sexual interest in children over a long period of time “everyone needs to know [this] is illegal and children are harmed”.
It is clear that more needs to be done in order to tackle this problem. Support is there for both victims of this form of abuse and those who participate in it in the hopes of changing their life around, however removing this form of material from the online world is the only way to truly combat this type of abuse. Those who have been made victims of online child sexual abuse will be affected for the rest of their life in one way or another. It is the hope that technology, like ours at DragonflAI, can tackle this growing problem head on, by stopping this illegal content from reaching the online world, and for that which remains to be removed. Although for many victims of CSAM the damage has already been done, technology is the first step in a long path which when paired with up and coming legislation, ensures that the online world is a safer place for all.
