Profiles encourage pedophilia and incest based on photos of other users

Despite Meta announcing an offensive against pedophiles after the revelation that Instagram algorithms helped promote child abuse networks, it is still very easy to find open profiles on the platform that encourage sexual activity with children, including between parents and children. In addition to feeding these practices and enticing children, these users use images posted by other people to try to achieve their goals.

Reporting these profiles is the first step in fighting crime, but it is not enough: once discovered, those involved leave the application or change their name. According to agents specialized in combating these crimes, many parents are still unaware of the psychological and security risks of this content and end up not monitoring their children’s activity on the platform. At the same time, they ignore that posted images of the family may be the target of these criminals’ activity.

Persons who produce, disseminate or consume child pornography over the Internet may be liable for criminal activity and are subject to imprisonment for between 1 and 8 years, in addition to a fine. The crime was included in the Child and Adolescent Statute, through Law No. 11,829, of 11/25/2008.

In addition, the activity of enticing children, via the internet or any other means, with the aim of practicing sexual acts with them, or to make them exhibit themselves in a pornographic way, is also a crime with a penalty of imprisonment from 1 to 3 years, and fine. Incest is not considered a crime in Brazil, unless it involves children under 14, when it is classified as rape of a vulnerable person.

The number of Federal Police operations grows

A survey carried out by the Directorate for Combating Cyber ​​Crimes (DCIBER/PF) pointed out that, from 2019 until May of this year, around 1,300 operations and almost 900 arrests were carried out related to cyber crimes of child/youth sexual abuse. The operations aimed to combat abuse and sexual exploitation of minors under 18 years of age, by identifying, tracking, investigating and dismantling child and youth pornography networks.

See DCIBER/PF data below:

The year 2022 had the highest number of operations and arrests, with 447 outbreaks and 313 arrests. In 2023, until May 18, 164 outbreaks and 97 arrests have already been carried out.

The most recent action was Operation Serpente, which took place on June 2, together with Interpol, with the aim of repressing the possession, availability and publication of photographs and videos with explicit sex scenes or pornography involving children and adolescents.

Investigations were initiated based on information forwarded by Interpol, pointing out that Brazilians were sharing criminal content through a social networking application.

“It is essential for society to unite in this fight, denouncing any occurrence of production, transmission and storage of child and youth pornography and supporting the authorities in the investigation of these crimes. The protection of children and adolescents is everyone’s responsibility”, reinforces the PF.

Complaints can be made through the Dial 100 service channels of the National Human Rights Ombudsman.

Parents need to accompany their children

The delegate for children and adolescents of the Civil Police of the Federal District, Cristhiane Andrade, emphasizes that denouncing this type of profile on the internet is the first step to combating virtual pedophilia. “The Civil Police, as a way of combating pedophilia crimes, acts based on complaints. From such denouncements, an investigation begins that will probably demand the withdrawal of the telematic secrecy of profiles in different social networks and emails”, she says.

The delegate informed that obtaining the telematic secrecy of the profiles serves to identify the perpetrators, and “from then on, the investigation team will decide which are the best measures to be taken, and there may be consequences that give rise to compliance with the search and seizure warrant, requests arrest and continued monitoring of profiles”.

After the police identify the perpetrator and seize all child sexual abuse material he is in possession of, it is possible to instruct the Police Inquiry and provide elements for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to file a complaint against the investigated person.

To prevent children from falling victim to pedophiles on the internet, police chief Cristhiane issues an alert to parents. “In addition to monitoring the use of computer devices by the children, above all, guide them about the risks that the indiscriminate use of the internet can bring. It is noteworthy that there are many parental monitoring tools, however none of them is faultless. It is extremely important that parents are open to talking, alerting and welcoming their children in situations of violence and abuse that they may eventually be victims of through virtual means”, he explains.

Instagram says it works hard to fight child exploitation

Regarding the complaints against the actions of Instagram, a spokesperson for Meta reported that the platform works “rigidly” to combat child sexual exploitation, which it considers a “terrible crime”.

“Predators often change their tactics to harm children all the time, so we have strict policies and technologies in place to prevent them from encountering or interacting with teens on our apps. In addition, we hired specialized teams focused on understanding the transformation of these behaviors in order to eliminate abusive interactions”, says the spokesperson.

According to the platform, between 2020 and 2022, 27 abusive networks were taken down, and in January 2023 alone, they managed to deactivate more than 490,000 accounts that violated child safety policies. “We created an internal task force to investigate these situations and resolve them immediately”, explains Meta.

In addition to restricting thousands of search terms and hashtags on Instagram, Meta also said it fixed a “technical issue that unexpectedly prevented user reports from reaching content reviewers. facilities”.