[Morgana]

CSAM

child sexual abuse material

While the internet is indispensable to our lives, it does have a dark side: pictures and videos that capture the sexual abuse of children are more common, and easier to access, than ever.

Why is it called child sexual abuse material instead of child pornography?

While the term child pornography is still widely used by the public, it’s more accurate to call it what it is: evidence of child sexual abuse. That’s why RAINN and others have stopped using the term child pornography and switched to referring to it as CSAM — child sexual abuse materials.

While some of the pornography online depicts adults who have consented to be filmed, that’s never the case when the images depict children. Just as kids can’t legally consent to sex, they can’t consent to having images of their abuse recorded and distributed. Every explicit photo or video of a kid is actually evidence that the child has been a victim of sexual abuse.

How is child sexual abuse material distributed online?

Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is widely distributed online. In 2021 alone, more than 29 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation were reported by online platforms to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline, and that number is growing. Those 29 million reports included 84.9 million images and videos of CSAM.

https://www.rainn.org/news/what-child-sexual-abuse-material-csam

[Beowulf9]

Oh, god. Should’ve known better.