The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its accessibility pose complex challenges for those working to combat sexual violence against children online. Reasons for this are the low barriers to using AI. It is possible for offenders to exploit these technologies alone or within offender communities to produce and disseminate depictions of child sexual abuse (CSAM) online. The NGO Protect Children from Finland, in cooperation with the Council of the Baltic Sea States and the University of Eastern Finland, published the results of the 2KNOW project today, which addresses this topic. The study provides information about the main motives that lead to sexual violence against children on the internet, informs about factors that enable this behavior and corresponding crimes and identifies barriers that can prevent a crime. The aim of the study is to develop a deeper understanding of the many factors behind these crimes in order to contribute to the fight against sexual violence against children and the spread of such images.

The findings were obtained from data collected quantitatively by means of an anonymous survey entitled “Help us to know”. The online survey was suggested to people searching for depictions of sexual abuse of children on the dark web. More than 4500 people took part.

In the research results, factors that promote and facilitate sexual offenses on the Internet are presented in a nuanced analysis. These include the central motives, which can be a sexual interest in children, a high sex drive or emotional selfregulation. Furthermore, factors such as trauma in childhood, sensation seeking or the consumption of drugs and pornography can facilitate such crimes. Situational factors facilitate these crimes through the availability and easy accessibility of technological tools and the associated perception of security and privacy in the digital environment. The importance and efficiency of barriers to offending is mentioned. Barriers include the implementation of behavior change interventions and messages of illegality while searching for images of sexual violence against children (CSAM).

These findings illustrate the complex interaction of motivations, facilitating influences, situational factors and barriers that contribute to sexual violence against children online and highlight the need for extensive prevention strategies. The full study can be found here.