Are we doing enough to protect children and adults online- CSAM, Trust and Safety?

Today is a discussion with a friend and colleague in the space of child sexual abuse online where we once again take a look at the approaches used in the removal of this kind of material to protect children online.

The discussion take us on a broad approach to the reporting of, classifications of child sexual abuse, or exploitation, platform violations, adult sexual material, nudes, cartoon versions and the who, what and how of the way in which social media and other websites are removing these images, videos and other types of material.

Andy is great at explaining what parents and professionals working with children can keep their eyes and ears open to, having worked in/for social media companies in the past and has over 20 years of law enforcement experience in this domain.

We discuss 'that question' relating to banning, removing, delaying and more and have a long conversation bout the actual pragmatics about why we think this is wont work on a global level given that this is where the internet is. We consider the approaches of many of the internet safety spaces and what is being said in the realms of trust and safety and what the risks and dangers really are.

No spoilers but please do listen to this section if you have been led to believe that a ban or delay is the solution to a problem that is much more complicated than a simple 'don't' approach. Why parents are not aware of the technical issue at a tech, industry and government level.

We do talk about the great work that social media channels are taking to address some of the issues that are being discussed in todays session, and we put out a plea to the whole of the industries and techn companies to come together in a way that allows us to address the societal issues.

We (and I most certainly say wholeheartedly) duly request that we put the children and vulnerable in the centre of our conversations with the interest of the children and vulnerable as the main focus of the conversation.

For me the last 10-15 mins of this conversation are perhaps the most important in the whole sector of keeping children and vulnerable people safe online.