All articles tagged with #child sexual abuse material
A doctor in Wasilla, Ryan McDonough, who faced charges of possessing child sexual abuse material, was found dead in his burned home, with investigations ongoing to confirm his identity and the cause of the fire.
Workers training xAI's Grok chatbot have reported encountering explicit and disturbing content, including requests for AI-generated child sexual abuse material, raising concerns about the company's content moderation practices and the challenges of preventing illegal content in provocative AI features.
Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of the Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo megachurch, has been charged by a federal grand jury with producing and possessing child sexual abuse material. The indictment alleges that García coerced a 16-year-old victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction. He is also accused of possessing an iPad containing videos of the minor engaging in sexual activity. García is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence for related state charges and, if convicted on the federal charges, could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.
The Indian government has issued notices to social media platforms X (formerly known as Twitter), YouTube, and Telegram, demanding the removal of any child sexual abuse material from their platforms. Failure to comply could result in the companies losing their protection from legal liability. The government emphasized the importance of prompt and permanent removal of such content and stated that consequences under Indian law would follow if the platforms do not act swiftly. The notices also called for measures like content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms to prevent the dissemination of child sexual abuse material in the future.
Former Round Rock pastor, David Lloyd Walther, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release on an enhanced charge of possession of child pornography. During a search of his home and vehicle, authorities found two computer hard drives containing over 100,000 images and 5,000 videos of child sexual abuse material. Walther, who was the pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock at the time of his arrest, must also pay restitution of $61,000.
Deepfake nudes of underage girls, created using an AI app, have been circulating among students in four schools in Spain, causing distress and anger among parents. The local Juvenile Prosecutor's Office is investigating the case, with 20 victims identified so far. The culprits behind the deepfakes have been identified, and the FBI has previously warned about the use of deepfakes for extortion. Attorney generals from all US states have called for action against the increase of AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The proliferation of open-source generative AI poses challenges for regulation and finding a solution to this disturbing issue.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton plans to confront Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over reports that the company has failed to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material on its platform during an in-person meeting at Meta's California headquarters on June 23. Breton also stated that Meta will be subject to the European Union's Digital Services Act by the end of the summer, and violations could carry "heavy sanctions." An investigation found that Meta-owned Instagram has helped foster a robust marketplace for child pornography.
Instagram has become the primary platform for buyers and sellers of underage sex content, with hundreds of thousands of users searching explicit hashtags to uncover illegal "menus" of content. While other platforms play a role in processing payments and delivering content, Instagram is where the majority of the activity takes place. Despite efforts by platform-owner Meta to combat child exploitation, researchers have found that the company's trust and safety team is missing easily discoverable hashtags and that Instagram's recommendation system is "directly undercutting" their efforts. Instagram has an obligation to ensure its recommendation system does not promote abusive content, according to researchers.
Meta has set up a taskforce to investigate claims that Instagram is hosting the distribution and sale of self-generated child sexual abuse material, with the platform’s algorithms helping advertise illicit content. The move by the Facebook parent comes after a report from the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) that found a web of social media accounts, which appear to be operated by minors, advertising self-generated child sexual abuse material (SG-CSAM). The SIO said that Instagram is “currently the most important platform for these networks” with enabling features such as recommendation algorithms and direct messaging that connects buyers and sellers of SG-CSAM.
Researchers have found that Twitter failed to remove dozens of known images of child sexual abuse material, despite being notified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Twitter's artificial intelligence system reportedly failed to detect the images, highlighting the challenges social media platforms face in detecting and removing such content. Twitter has stated that it is committed to online safety and is continuously improving its technology to detect and remove such content.
Spain has proposed banning end-to-end encryption for EU-based service providers, according to a leaked European Council survey of member countries’ views on encryption regulation. The proposed law would require tech companies to scan their platforms, including users’ private messages, to find illegal material. Of the 20 EU countries represented in the document, the majority said they are in favor of some form of scanning of encrypted messages, with Spain’s position emerging as the most extreme. However, experts argue that breaking end-to-end encryption for everyone would not only be disproportionate but also ineffective in achieving the goal to protect children.
Joshua Tylerbest, a former contestant on "The Bachelorette," has been arrested in Florida on 15 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material. An investigation was opened after 50 images/videos of child sexual abuse material were uploaded to an online account registered to Tylerbest. He was released after posting $5,000 surety bond and has entered a plea of not guilty. Tylerbest has not commented publicly on the charges and his Instagram account appears to have been deleted.