Technology News
English Edition
  • Home
  • Apps
  • Apps News
  • WhatApp’s Child Porn Problem: Chat App Blamed for Failing to Remove Child Sex Abuse Videos

WhatApp’s Child Porn Problem: Chat App Blamed for Failing to Remove Child Sex Abuse Videos

By Gaurav Shukla | Updated: 21 December 2018 16:21 IST
WhatApp’s Child Porn Problem: Chat App Blamed for Failing to Remove Child Sex Abuse Videos

Child porn is being openly shared on WhatsApp Messenger, a research from two Israeli NGOs claims

Highlights
  • Several child porn groups discovered on WhatsApp by researchers
  • WhatsApp group links being shared in free Android apps
  • App’s encryption support makes content moderation impossible
Advertisement

Child pornography is being openly and widely shared on WhatsApp Messenger, a research from two Israeli NGOs claims. The messaging app, which was bought by Facebook in 2014, is failing hard to control the problem despite banning thousands of accounts every day. The revelation comes less than two years after a global operation led by Spanish police broke up a WhatsApp child porn sharing ring. Despite the arrest of 39 people as a part of the operation, the sharing of videos and pictures showing child sexual abuse is thriving on the chat app.

According to a report in the Financial Times (FT), the Israeli charities – Netivei Reshet and Screensaverz – were first alerted to the problem by a young man who called their hotline in August to report exposure to such content on WhatsApp. After an extensive investigation, the charities found several easily accessible groups that contained child sexual abuse material. These groups were often listed in many free Android apps available in Google's Play Store, which claim to offer links to interesting WhatsApp groups.

“It is a disaster: this sort of material was once mostly found on the darknet, but now it's on WhatsApp,” Netivei Reshet's Yona Pressburger told FT.

The groups, which were found to have as many as 256 members, were identifiable by their explicit profile pictures or names, including abbreviations such as “cp.” Despite these identifiers, many of the WhatsApp groups with child porn have gone unnoticed by the company's automated systems. The FT report claims that even though the NGOs notified Facebook about the existence of these groups last month, several were found to be active as recently as this week. Of these, one particular group called “kids boy gay,” had participants with phone numbers from India, Pakistan, Algeria, and the United States, the report adds.

A WhatsApp spokesperson told the publication that it has a zero-tolerance policy around child sexual abuse. The company also claims to actively ban “accounts suspected of sharing this vile content.”

One major issue that has emerged from these findings is the end-to-end encryption offered by WhatsApp. Even though it is meant to maintain the privacy of the app users and shield them from the prying eyes of governments and hackers, the encryption hampers WhatsApp as well as law enforcement's efforts to monitor the spread of child abuse content. The company had rolled out the encryption support back in 2016.

Experts have suggested that WhatsApp could stop encryption for groups over a certain size to make it easier to monitor the content. One other option being cited is the implementation of a weaker encryption that could allow the company to search these group for illegal content. But for now, the company is sticking to the existing encryption model, it told TechCrunch.

Another problematic area is the lack of sufficient manpower to monitor these groups manually on WhatsApp's end. The company currently employs a total of 300 people, of which only a limited number of resources are tasked to track illegal activity in the app.

With no immediate encryption fix in sight, WhatsApp will need better human moderation and preemptive tracking of any and all avenues that make it easier for people to discover these groups in the first place.

We discussed what WhatsApp absolutely needs to do in 2019, on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: WhatsApp, Facebook, Chat
Voot to Add Twitch-Like Features Such As Chat, Integrated Gameplay By 2019
Sony WH-1000XM3 vs Bose QC35 II

Related Stories

WhatApp’s Child Porn Problem: Chat App Blamed for Failing to Remove Child Sex Abuse Videos
Comment
Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat LinkedIn Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News

Advertisement

Featured
Follow Us
Latest Videos
More Videos
Tech News in Hindi
More Technology News in Hindi
Popular on Gadgets
Latest Gadgets
Popular Mobile Brands
#Trending Stories
  1. Apple to Discontinue iPhone 14, iPhone SE Sales in These Countries
#Latest Stories
  1. iPhone 14, iPhone SE Sales in EU to Be Discontinued Due to Upcoming Regulation: Report
  2. OnePlus Open 2 Launch Timeline Leaked; Might Debut Later Than Expected
  3. Google Blasts Chrome Sale as ‘Extreme’ Remedy at Odds With Law
  4. Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim Specifications Leaked; Might Be Thicker Than iPhone 17 Air
  5. Qualcomm Secures Key Win in Chips Trial Against Arm
  6. OpenAI Unveils 'o3' Reasoning AI Models in Test Phase
  7. Ancient Bronze Statues Unearthed from Etruscan Healing Spring in Italy
  8. Malayalam Action Thriller Mura Now Streaming on Prime Video
  9. Study Explores Sun’s Magnetic Field Changes and Solar Wind Acceleration
  10. Madanolsavam Streaming Now on Prime Video: What You Need to Know
Gadgets 360 is available in
Follow Us
Download Our Apps
App Store App Store
Available in Hindi
App Store
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »