Online child sexual abuse prevention

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Source: Lucy Faithfull Foundation

Date published: 12 September 2024


The Lucy Faithfull Foundation has published a new paper on the use of warning messages and chatbots to help prevent online child sexual abuse. The paper evaluates the chatbot tool designed to confront and redirect people searching for child sexual abuse images online. Findings from the experiment carried out through an online adult pornography website show: the warning message and chatbot did have a deterrent effect and when the chatbot was turned off for a month, searches for child sexual abuse images increased. The Foundation is calling for technology companies to focus on earlier prevention, such as warning messages, wider education, and clear expectations of user behaviour.

Read the report: Introducing our chatbot - a pioneering tool in the fight against online child sexual abuse