I want to be happy that the IWF exists and is collecting data about this kind of thing. This is extremely difficult and important work.
But they are also lobbying to ban encryption, arguing that privacy only helps criminals.
Sorry, but if Facebook is too dangerous for kids, instead of banning encryption so the authorities can more easily catch child abusers, let’s just ban children from using Facebook before they fall victim to abuse.
The pedos out there are using AI to nudity pictures of real kids. That’s just going to drive up the demand for creep shots and child model photosets to exploit.
There may be a small percentage of offending pedophiles that switch to pure GenAI over pictures of real kids, but I don’t see GenAI ever playing a role in harm reduction given the harm it ultimately enables.
One of the current sickening trends is for a predator to convince a kid to send underwear or swimsuit pics, and then blackmail them into more hardcore photos with nudified versions of the original pics. They’re already seeing an influx of that kind of CSAM online, that involves abusing real kids on social media.
I just wish America was less puritanical and taught kids about sex and boundaries to protect them, and that we had a functioning mental healthcare system that directly helps people who experience inappropriate sexuality attractions like pedophilia before they go down these dark paths.