Virtual pedophilia: Opportunity for invisible predators to hunt victims

In a world where technology is dominating every aspect of our lives, the risk of being abused is mounting like never before. The most vulnerable group of any society is children, whose early exposure to social media platforms may lead to catastrophes, one of which is being victims to invisible predators. 

Predators with pedophiliac disorder can easily haunt and lure minors online. They target their victims, start conversations with them, interact on their posts, or share their interests such as online gaming. Afterwards, they go deeper by asking more personal questions. 

When the trust is gained, the predators start to establish a special relationship with the child. Later, their interaction becomes slowly and gradually sexualized. The predators may share nude photos of themselves to encourage the children to do the same, according to the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children. 

Emojis are a tool

Predators are becoming creative in their attempts to approach children, including the use of emojis. Bahay Tuluyan, a children's rights NGO in the Philippines, has noticed that pedophiles use emojis to befriend children online.

Emojis, or little icons symbolizing expressions, symbols, things, or places, are frequently used in messaging apps. The United Nations Children’s Fund and International Criminal Police Organization claims that hundreds of thousands of online predators utilize emojis to refer to sexual symbols.

“They pretend to be kids and use emojis as a way to get close [to] our children and abuse them, get images of their private parts, or even get them to perform sexual acts,” Bahay Tuluyan executive director Catherine Scerri said to Rappler. 

Social alienation

In Singapore, to escape from school bullying, an eleven-old-year girl sought safety in an online karaoke app, where she recorded herself singing popular songs and received praise that made her feel valued, and she was glad she could meet new acquaintances.

Things took another turn in 2021, when some of the app users made comments about her body and requested her to share naked photos of herself. Eager to satisfy them, she agreed and even started meeting them in public parking lots. Some were males in their thirties who abused her, according to the Straits Times. 

Her mother discovered what was happening after seeing a leaked nude photo of her daughter on social media. She filed a police report, and the case was then sent to the Ministry of Social and Family Development's Child Protective Service.

Suicide as a solution

A family in the United States told a story of their teenage son who committed suicide due to sexual exploitation on Instagram. The exploiters had blackmailed him with naked photographs, demanding money or else they would post the images online for all to see. They also threatened to injure or kill his parents. The son found no solution but to commit suicide, according to the Hill. 

Dark web pedophile forum

Months ago in Australia, police disclosed that a former childcare worker was suspected of 1,623 child abuse charges involving 91 young girls over a 15-year span, the Gurdian reported. 

In the Brisbane office of the taskforce Argos, there is a list of online identities of global members of a dark web pedophile forum. The dark web can provide money, illegal images, prestige, and community. Although the forum is difficult to access, police were successful in taking entire control of the forum.

Although the childcare worker was not on the list, the accused man was charged with sharing only a small number of photographs and videos online, all of which were about two girls at a suburban Brisbane childcare center. Police entered his home and discovered cameras and phones with around 4,000 photographs and videos of child abuse dating back to 2007.

Misuse of applications

An Egyptian worker residing in Damietta Governorate was arrested after posting sexual content of children. It was reported that the worker subscribed to groups on some applications such as Telegram, X, and Facebook that include sexual content of children, Cairo 24 reported. 

It was also proven that the worker tried to contact children aged 13-17 years old and attempted to persuade them to send their naked pictures and videos on WhatsApp.

Meta policy 

On its website, Meta mentions that preventing child exploitation is one of the most pressing issues confronting its industry today. It is building technology to detect predators, hiring specialists in online child protection, and sharing information with industry partners and law enforcement.

It was reported that between August 29 and December 31, 2023, Meta took action on over 2.2 million accounts on Facebook and over 1.4 million accounts on Instagram, as they were linked to accounts that violated their child safety policies.