Individuals Seeking Illicit Child Content Are Converging on Periscope, the Less-Frequented Video Platform of Twitter
In the twilight of 2017, as social media behemoths confront mounting backlash, the neglected video streaming app Periscope has witnessed a chilling renaissance. This time around, it serves as a hub for those with a sinister interest in child exploitation. In a single afternoon's exploration, Gizmodo stumbled upon numerous accounts (a total of 50) that seemed to be soliciting or even distributing images of children engaging in sexual activities.
Acquired by Twitter in a preemptive strike against a rival app named Meerkat, Periscope enables users to broadcast live videos — think real-time news coverage or on-the-spot events. Powered by its seamless integration with Twitter, Periscope stormed into the market in 2015, placing among the top 25 downloaded apps based on App Annie's analytics. The app has since struggled, slipping to the 968th position among downloaded apps as of December 12th.
The seedy underbelly of such a platform is sadly not altogether shocking. Among the accounts flagged by Gizmodo, 22 displayed names that hinted at their inappropriate intentions, like "lovechildrin," "girlpreteen," or "addmegroupsCPplease." The latter is a well-known shorthand for child pornography. Subtler accounts still made their desires explicit by sporting bios that read, "Love Little Girls the younger the better," or "j'aime les jeune filles" (French for "I love little girls").
Despite Periscope's announced "zero tolerance" for child exploitation, the chosen avatars of certain users paint a different picture. Gizmodo uncovered 50 accounts allegedly involved in child exploitation; nine had avatars featuring prepubescent girls' genitalia, and six more displayed what appeared to be underage girls involved in sexual acts.
Many perpetrators use the bio section to extol the virtues of private groups, a feature on Periscope offering segregated broadcasts. These accounts, frequently boasting thousands of followers, often displayed zero broadcasts, raising some intriguing questions about the nature of their activities.
Adult pornographers also utilize the app to amass followings, despite explicit rules banning their activities in accordance with Periscope's content guidelines. Their videos are often reposted on Reddit's r/Open_Boobs forum. The thread with the most upvotes decries the sharing of underage girls and urges users to refrain from such behavior.
Once broadcasts end, deleted videos can still be viewed and rewatched, providing a potentially long-lasting storehouse of inappropriate material. Periscope refuses to disclose the exact duration of content retention on its servers.
A testament to Periscope's ongoing troubles, co-existing with these offenders are actual, unassuming minors. Platform shortcomings in user discovery allow predators to track users broadcasting innocent activities, paving the way for potential misconduct. Aggressive measures to mitigate this threat are scarce; the app has included minimal chat comment flagging capabilities, but the system continues to rely on other users to identify harmful comments.
Given the lack of options to flag accounts, it's uncertain who would potentially handle such reports. A Twitter spokesperson maintained that reported broadcasts are reviewed by a 24/7 team, but provides no specifics about size or composition of these teams.
In an attempt to tackle the issue, Gizmodo raised concerns about child exploitation on Periscope and presented a list of suspicious accounts. Two years after these reports, many of the flagged accounts have been banned, indicating that the platform at least acknowledges the gravity of the situation.
Reality presents substantial hurdles in the quest for user safety, especially in live video platforms. Despite twitter's efforts to curb extremism, its effectiveness remains debatable. Other similar platforms, like Discord, have faced child pornography scandals, further highlighting the challenges. Real-time communication automatically levies a unique set of difficulties that must be tackled rigorously by its administrators.
In an era of increasing scrutiny and legislative pressure, Twitter and Periscope will need to further tighten their measures and bolster their monitoring mechanisms to adapt to this evolving threat. The fight against child exploitation will linger on, as technology advances and offenders craft new ways to evade detection.
Technology and tech giants, including Twitter, will need to continually innovate and enhance their monitoring mechanisms to combat the threat of child exploitation in the future. Despite efforts to tighten measures and curb extremism, real-time platforms like Periscope face unique challenges due to the nature of live video communication, requiring rigorous control measures.
As the world moves further into the digital age, preventing and combating online child exploitation will remain a significant challenge for tech companies, requiring ongoing development and improvement of their content moderation methods in line with advancements in technology.
