Social media platforms exist for discussions around topical issues affecting the society, for others they are a tool for merry making and well, others are on them to make money.
But what is unique to each platform are the terms and conditions.
Last year for example, Facebook changed its terms and conditions to ban topics revolving sexual preference, sexual roles, breasts, and buttocks.
The Mark Zuckerberg owned platform did also make it impossible for users to solicit for sexual content. The guideline states that a user who asks for “content implicity or indirectly offers or asks for nude imagery, sex or sexual partners, or sex chat conversations.”
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A scholar, Michael Salter has on the other hand explained how Twitter, a microblogging site, has allowed discussions around “attraction towards minors” as long as “they don’t promote or glorify child sexual exploitation in any way.”
Under its Child sexual exploitation policy, Twitter details what’s not a violation of the policy as of March 2019.
Since Twitter changed its terms of service to permit discussion of sexual interest in minors, the paedophile conversation has rapidly expanded to open advocacy for illegal activity. This was an entirely predictable and indeed inevitable outcome.
— Michael Salter (@mike_salter) January 10, 2020
It reads: “Discussions related to child sexual exploitation as a phenomenon or attraction towards minors are permitted, provided they don’t promote or glorify child sexual exploitation in any way. Artistic depictions of nude minors in a non-sexualized context or setting may be permitted in a limited number of scenarios e.g., works by internationally renowned artists that feature minors.”
Salter, a criminologist and coordinator of “Organised Abuse”, noted that Twitter was not the right platform for pedophiles, offenders or otherwise to be “constructive” and have safe conversations.
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“For conversations between pedophiles to be constructive and safe, they must be therapeutically monitored and moderated. Twitter is obviously not the forum for this,” he tweeted.
He further noted that the site has prioritized pedophiles sexual desires over the safety of minors. A letter addressed to John Starr, Twitter’s Director of Trust and Safety from various child sexual abuse experts, outlined how the microblogging site could be an essential tool in fight against child sexual abuse.
The experts noted that Twitter’s suspension of accounts “of prominent anti-contact, non-offending pedophiles may have been a knee-jerk response to uninformed public pressure, rather than a reasoned decision made in the best interests of children.”
Here's the letter from Cantor et al. to Twitter in 2018 arguing that Twitter should stop suspending non-offending paedophiles from the platform. They claimed that allowing this group to talk openly on Twitter would protect children. https://t.co/MvlYBSoWvf
— Michael Salter (@mike_salter) January 10, 2020
In his thread, Salter also noted that the number of pedophile “friendly” accounts on Twitter have grown over the years.
“In the last year, paedophile networks on Twitter have exploded, including users who endorse contact offending, justify child sexual abuse material, and demand access to child sexual abuse dolls,” he wrote.
Castigating the social media platform further, Salter said pedophiles “need early intervention, treatment, and support for behavior change. They do not need a public forum to discuss their sexual attraction to children.”
It's clear that the treatment and support needs of paedophiles need to be managed carefully and in clinical settings, not on sites like Twitter that are notorious for abuse and disinformation.
— Michael Salter (@mike_salter) January 10, 2020
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According to Twitter, however, any content that depicts or promotes child sexual exploitation includes, but is not limited to: visual depictions of a child engaging in sexually explicit or sexually suggestive acts; illustrated, computer-generated or other forms of realistic depictions of a human child in a sexually explicit context, or engaging in sexually explicit acts; sexualized commentaries about or directed at a known or unknown minor; and links to third-party sites that host child sexual exploitation material.
Twitter does not not also allow sharing fantasies about or promoting engagement in child sexual exploitation; expressing a desire to obtain materials that feature child sexual exploitation; recruiting, advertising or expressing an interest in a commercial sex act involving a child, or in harboring and/or transporting a child for sexual purposes.
Sending sexually explicit media to a child; engaging or trying to engage a child in a sexually explicit conversation; trying to obtain sexually explicit media from a child or trying to engage a child in sexual activity through blackmail or other incentives; and identifying alleged victims of childhood sexual exploitation by name or image is also disallowed.
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