Platforms step up fight against searches for child sexual abuse material

Platforms have stepped up the fight against searches for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online over the past two years, with more than 70 million warnings issued to users.

The alerts—averaging more than 95,000 per day—are part of a system developed by the UK-based charity Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which works to prevent child sexual abuse, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The warnings are triggered when users search for CSAM-related content across platforms including TikTok, Meta services, ChatGPT, Google, and pornography websites.

Each alert delivers a set of key messages stating that viewing sexual images of children or engaging in sexual communication with minors is illegal, causes harm, and can lead to serious consequences, while also highlighting that support is available to help individuals change their behaviour.

Deborah Denis, chief executive of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said tens of millions of people had been reached through just 22 targeted interventions across online platforms.

“That makes one thing clear - the potential to scale this approach is enormous,” she said, adding that by placing more warnings across more online spaces, “we can disrupt harmful behaviour at the moment it's happening and prevent countless children from being harmed.”

She stressed that the need for intervention is growing, particularly as emerging artificial intelligence technologies accelerate the spread of online child sexual abuse content.

Of those who received warnings, nearly 700,000 users reportedly clicked through to access further support resources, including online learning modules aimed at preventing reoffending.

One user of a pornography site said the intervention helped him change his behaviour, describing the modules on addiction and pornography as useful and noting that he had since stopped accessing such sites.

Efforts to combat CSAM also include initiatives by organisations such as the Internet Watch Foundation, which identifies and removes abusive material and hashes images to prevent reuploading. Some VPN providers have also begun blocking access to sites hosting CSAM content.

Encrypted platforms remain a key challenge for enforcement, as end-to-end encryption limits visibility into user activity. However, some companies are introducing preventative tools.

Mega’s chief technology officer, Andre Meister, made it clear that the company supports early intervention systems such as Project Intercept, which aim to discourage harmful behaviour before it escalates.

He said the approach focuses on “well-timed deterrence messaging and self-help resourcing” and represents a more proactive, evidence-based strategy to tackling CSAM-related activity online.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov