Citation

Owens JN, Clapp K, Craun SW, van der Bruggen M, van Balen I, van Bunningen A, Talens P. Aggress. Violent Behav. 2023; 68: e101808.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.avb.2022.101808

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Knowledge about the online bulletin board communities dedicated to child sexual exploitation (CSE) located on the Darkweb (Tor) has generally been limited to those that investigate and prosecute individuals participating in those sites, as accessing them and viewing the abuse material is a crime. This leaves many of those in the CSE field without a scientifically validated foundation of the behaviors typically demonstrated by members of these CSE online communities. The following research empirically examines topic popularity of one Darkweb CSE Tor hidden service that was seized by a federal law enforcement agency. Analyses reveal that some topics tend to be viewed significantly more often, and descriptors about specific sexual acts and the ages of children portrayed in the thread titles correlate with the frequency of viewing, approving and downloading of that material. Implications of these findings for professionals working in the CSE field will be discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

Child pornography; Child sexual abuse material (CSAM); Child sexual exploitation (CSE); Darkweb; Online community; Tor