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Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators

January 22, 2025

88 million images of child abuse circulated worldwide in the year 2022. Two images of child rape are shared online every second. Social networks make it especially easy for sex offenders to prey on victims.

https://p.dw.com/p/4pAIC
Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators
Paedophile criminals act in a targeted, unscrupulous and international manner; their victims are the weakest members of society. There are perpetrators and there is a scene of perpetrators who threaten, sexually assault and exploit children.Image: Arte France

Back in 2009, the United Nations estimated that 750,000 pedophiles were online at any one time. Fifteen years later, experts believe that figure has tripled.

Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators
Cybergrooming is on the rise: more and more children are being sexually harassed online. Perpetrators often write to children via social media or the chat function of video games. The chats are usually encrypted.Image: Arte France

Believing themselves to be shielded by the apparent anonymity of chatrooms, these men - most of the perpetrators are men - exchange ideas on how best to approach and manipulate a child into supplying explicit material.

Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that up to one million children and young people in Germany have already experienced or are experiencing sexual violence at the hands of adults. Image: Arte France

They also give each other tips on how to rape a child known to them and share images with others without being caught. Some enquire about commissioning the rape of a child to their exact specifications on the other side of the world - and to witness this live via Skype or WhatsApp for less than a hundred dollars. 

Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators
Paedophiles are sharing images and videos of children on darknet forums on an alarming scale. Image: Arte France

A nightmare that is part of everyday life for child protection organizations and law enforcement agencies, who are faced with the challenge of identifying victims of abuse, tracking down the perpetrators and preventing the proliferation of pedocriminal content.

Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators
Two images of child rape are shared online every second. Image: Arte France

For four years, director Laetitia Ohnona observed the day-to-day work of relevant agencies in Germany, France, Britain, North America and the Philippines: accompanying French police from the new central office for the protection of minors, undercover American special agents from the Homeland Security Investigations agency,  the Public Prosecutor General’s Office in Frankfurt and German police officers responsible for taking down darknet pages, as well as employees of reporting platforms tracking down pedocriminal content. On a visit to the European Commission, she learned that it plans to impose stricter rules on IT companies.
 

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