In Brazil, sharing of child sexual abuse images grew by 70%

During the first quarter of this year, Brazil witnessed an alarming 70% increase in the number of child sexual abuse and exploitation images identified on the internet compared to the same period of the previous year. This statistic represents the highest increase recorded since the year 2020, as indicated by SaferNet.

SaferNet is a non-governmental organization that received more than 23,000 complaints during the period. The investigations were sent to the Public Ministry, which acted in agreement with the NGO. For them, there is a justification for the increase in access to these contents.

The Child and Adolescent Statute (Law no. 8069/1990) establishes the practice as a crime of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Individuals who disseminate, store or share child pornography content are subject to a fine or imprisonment, ranging from four to eight years in prison.

Sharing of child sexual abuse has grown

In the initial four-month period of 2022, the total number of cases related to child sexual abuse and exploitation referred to the authorities reached 14,005. It is important to highlight that this upward trend has been constant in the interval between 2019 and 2022.

In 2022, the NGO's central received more than 100,000 complaints, marking the second consecutive year that this number was reached, something that had not happened since 2011.

In addition to the increase in reports, the number of unique links shared, which provide access to images of sexual abuse, has also shown a higher percentage since 2019 and has been growing steadily.

That is, in a generalized way, the crescent has been seen during the last four years. also increased since 2019 in the first four months of the year when comparing records from one year to the next. This growth trend has been observed across the board, with a notable exception in 2022.

Juliana Cunha, psychologist and director of SaferNet, attributes the increase in the number of complaints to a combination of several factors. There is much greater access to the internet after the pandemic, as well as sexualized content of children and adolescents on social networks, which is not detected by artificial intelligence.

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