UNITED STATES. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

From the document: "On November 14, 2023, Secretary Mayorkas tasked the HSAC [Homeland Security Advisory Council] with forming a subcommittee on Combatting Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) to develop the DHS strategy to protect community stakeholders from incidents of CSEA, consistent with the Department's authorities. To address these findings, the subcommittee makes the following six recommendations to DHS: 1. Establish, resource, and empower an office within DHS to lead Departmental efforts to counter online CSEA and form a center within DHS to organize a whole-of-government approach to addressing online abuse and exploitation. 2. Leverage existing tools; develop and advocate for policy solutions. 3. Increase participation in the combatting of CSEA by the major platform vendors. a. Build a uniform technology platform with a public private partnership for monitoring and reporting on all investigations, past and present, open and closed. This platform would be used as the system of record for all investing agencies. b. Reframe and realign incentives to partnership through legislative actions. 4. Prioritize vicarious trauma and workplace well-being support for law enforcement, civil society employees, and other frontline staff who encounter CSEA material in their work. 5. Bolster and sustain DHS external engagement for the Know2Protect Campaign by expanding resources and outreach with the Department of Education (ED). 6. Lead engagement with economic and regulatory federal partners to increase the interdepartmental approach to combatting CSEA."

HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISORY COUNCIL. COMBATTING ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE SUBCOMMITTEE. 2024. 23p.

By Savannah Minihan, Melanie Burton, Mariesa Nicholas, Kylie Trengove, Sarah Napier and Rick Brown

This study examines the prevalence of requests for facilitated child sexual exploitation (CSE) online. Of 4,011 Australians surveyed, 2.8 percent had received a request for facilitated CSE in the past year. Requests for facilitated CSE were significantly higher among those who had shared a photo of or information about children publicly online. Among respondents who had shared publicly, requests for facilitated CSE were significantly higher among men, younger individuals, linguistically diverse individuals, individuals with disability, and those who had experienced other sexual or violent harms online. The results highlight the need for increased awareness of the potential harms of posting photos of and information about children publicly online, and place onus on platforms to warn users of these potential harms.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 692. . Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2024.

By: Felix Reer, Ruth Wendt, and Thorsten Quandt

Several cross-sectional studies have shown that online sexual engagement (OSE) in the form of sexting or sexy self-presentation on social media is associated with an increased risk of experiencing negative consequences, such as online sexual victimization (OSV) or lower levels of psychosocial well-being. However, representative and longitudinal studies are scarce. The current study follows three research goals: (1) examining the prevalence of OSE and OSV among a random-quota sample of 1,019 German Internet users aged 14–64 years, (2) examining gender and age-related differences in OSE and OSV, and (3) examining the longitudinal relationships between OSE, OSV, and psychosocial well-being over a period of 1 year. Our results indicate that OSE and OSV are relatively widespread: 17.7% of the participants had already experienced OSV, 25.3% indicated that they had presented themselves online in a sexualized manner at least once in the past 2 months, and 22.7% showed a certain willingness to engage in sexting. We found higher rates among the younger participants. However, to a certain degree, older individuals were also affected. Male participants showed higher sexting willingness and more often presented themselves in a sexualized manner than females, whereas only small differences related to OSV were found. Concerning relationships with psychosocial well-being, our cross-sectional results showed that OSE, OSV, and mental problems are intercorrelated. Furthermore, we detected a significant long-term relationship between higher sexting willingness at time 1 and more victimization experienced 1 year later, whereas no significant longitudinal associations with lower levels of psychosocial well-being were identified.

Front. Psychol., 07 December 2021