Challenge of online child abuse and exploitation

Pakistan faces an immense challenge in cyber sphere. Apart from having no organised intelligence and monitoring mechanism in place to oversee cyber space, lack of internal accountability tools has resulted into a meek response against individual or collective online aberrant behaviour — such as child abuse, sexual exploitation, enticement and extortion by variegated predators. The AI-generated images and videos have also presented a complex scenario. Moreover, the situation is compounded by corruption, manipulation, presence of a dis-coordinated response at national or provincial levels and lack of meaningful investigation — resulting into a low conviction or no conviction at all.

The data on online child abuse and exploitation (OCAE) is often difficult to analyse and even harder to authenticate. Such a data should contain a set of benchmarks such as child sexual abuse material, number of countries covered in a particular area or region, number of data sources used, number of reports originated per 1,000 persons and internet penetration level.

According to one study, three regions — South Asia, East Asia & Pacific and Western Europe -— constitute more than 50 per cent of the online content across the globe. The South Asian region sits on the top of the list as it contributes nearly 30 per cent of OCAE content. Here it is important to mention that these contents may not necessarily be captured at the place of its origin. It is also possible that a region may be hosting excessively to upload the content whereas physical abuse and exploitation have actually taken place at some other location. Many factors including ease of internet connectivity, laws taking cognisance against these activities, poverty, youth density and absence of an integrated response system play an important role in enhancing its numbers and size.

Importantly a child who is abused, sexually or physically, once or multiple times — in physical or non-physical sphere — carries with him/her a mark of discomfort throughout the life. At a certain point of time his/her inner irritation is translated into a social ripple which challenges the established norms and gives a temporary jolt to the system as well. The online child abuse and exploitation can transfer this social illness to millions of predators who can do similar sort of actions with other children. Hence OCAE is a deadly weapon in the hands of dark web merchants.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has been working for last many decades in the United States of America. The Cyber Tipline, a part of NCMEC, monitors and shares critical reports and information with designated departments and organisations in the world. Its latest report highlights an increase in online child enticement which was enhanced by a factor of 192 per cent in 2024. The child sex trafficking incidents have also increased by 55 per cent in 2024 as compared to those in 2023. Nearly 63 million videos, images and reports have been shared by NCMEC in which South Asia figures prominently.

As a result, 2.3 million contents were disseminated to India, followed by Bangladesh (1.1 million), Pakistan (1.05 million), Sri Lanka (64,000), Nepal (57,000) and Bhutan (4,600). The report also showed a decline in referrals by electronic service providers (ESPs) in 2024 as compared to those in 2023. This indicates another potential pitfall as many ESPs may have synchronised with the current protocols indicating an urgent upgradation requirement. Interestingly, majority of the reports shared with South Asian countries are referrals — with technical evidence - while nearly 15 to 20 per cent constitute ordinary information.

The challenge for local law enforcement agencies designated to receive such information is multifarious. First, the Cyber Tipline does not normally pursue the referrals in detail. The electronic evidence provided by NCMEC should result in conviction however normally resiling of witnesses are often seen as the major cause in private complaints along with weak investigations.

Second, no specialised units are present within the departments overseeing online child sexual abuse and exploitation. The online child enticement cases need to be approached through experts for monitoring and investigation.

Third, OSINT capacity needs to be embedded in these departments. An underutilisation of OSINT led-casework will also hamper the conviction of the culprits involved in it. A dedicated OSINT desk should therefore be established in every department overseeing cyber-criminal activities.

Fourth, the data of such convicts need to be maintained in a roster and shared with NCMEC for implementation of any other type of restrictions like visa or travelling and lodging as well.

Fifth, it's time that South Asian countries should invest in cyber expertise through recruitment, training and outsourcing.

Lastly, online child sexual abuse and exploitation require a system of coordinated networking at local and regional levels where different agencies share information and fuse them together for effective action by the designated departments.