Combatting online child exploitation

A key element of child protection is to amplify the business sector's participation as a partner in the process. This is particularly challenging in regard to the expanding mass of child sexual exploitation and abuse materials (CSAM) in a world of digitalisation, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI).

- Vitit Muntarbhorn

Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) police raid a Chon Buri apartment on March 11, arresting a 54-year-old foreigner (middle, in blurred face), who was allegedly selling sexually explicit images of children on the dark web.CIB VIA WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

(CIB VIA WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM)

A recent report backed by the UN concerning the impact of AI on child sexual exploitation notes that Cyber Tipline received some 36 million CSAM reports in 2023. There are the traditional forms of exploitation, such as photos of children exploited in prostitution, pornography and human trafficking, now coupled with more modern forms, such as suggestive texts used for grooming children and livestreaming.

Sextortion, namely blackmail threatening children with exposure of sexual materials involving them, is also a worrying phenomenon in the expansive crucible of online scams and deception.

The advent of AI complicates the scenario. It can “nudify” ordinary pictures of children and adults by converting them into sexualised images. This might be ordered by a text to create an abusive new image or by manipulating an older image to become sexualised.

There then arises the question: what are the costs and benefits for the sector in harnessing its cooperation more effectively?

The preferred entry point is to follow the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which underline the business sector's duty to respect human rights, especially through due diligence measures, and to share with the state the duty to remedy the harm to target groups. The state itself is under the duty to protect human rights, such as by adopting good laws.