On November 20, it came to light that Twitter had killed two of the most used hashtags for child sexual exploitation-related content on the platform. A Human Trafficking Survivor Advocate and critic of child sexual exploitation (CSE) said that Twitter is taking child exploitation seriously. In a tweet, Eliza Bleu said, “Wow! The most popular hashtag used to sell child sexual abuse material on Twitter is almost completely cleaned out.”
Wow! The most popular hashtag used to sell child sexual abuse material on Twitter is almost completely cleaned out.
— Eliza (@elizableu) November 20, 2022
In a reply to a tweet that suggested Twitter has started addressing the problem of CSE content on the platform, Elon Musk said it is the “priority #1”.
Priority #1
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2022
In an exclusive interview with Teslarati, Bleu said under Elon Musk, things are changing, but a lot of work is still to be done. Bleu further pointed out that when Musk took over Twitter, there was already a lawsuit against the social media platform in the matter. She explained how videos of two minors, plaintiffs in the case, were sexually exploited, and their videos were leaked on Twitter. The social media platform refused when the victims approached Twitter and begged to remove the content. The content that the now-adult victims wanted Twitter to remove gained over 1,67,000 views and 2,223 retweets.
Blue has been vocal against the CSE material on Twitter. She noted that until Musk took over, the platform was slower to remove most of the content. Speaking to Teslarati, Bleu said she was happy to see the new changes the platform has been implementing.
In a follow-up tweet, she noted that three of the “biggest hashtags used by child abusers selling child sexual abuse material on Twitter have virtually been eliminated”.
Correction, the THREE biggest hashtags used by child abusers selling child sexual abuse material on Twitter have virtually been eliminated!
— Eliza (@elizableu) November 20, 2022
This is huge!
Calling it a huge development, Bleu further added, “To those who aren’t aware yet, last week Twitter did add a direct reporting option for child sexual exploitation. (ONLY on tweets with content images/videos) this was not previously available and was a separate form that wasn’t easy to find.”
She shared screenshots of the options added by Twitter to report CSE material directly. OpIndia confirmed that such options are indeed available. Notably, the options mentioned by Bleu only appear for tweets with media in the form of an image or a video. These two specific options, where you can specify the video contained “non-consensual nudity” followed by “Child sexual exploitation” in the next step, make it much easier to report such content. Here is how you can report CSE content on Twitter.
Please note that this process is for tweets that contain images or videos. First of all, click on the three dots in the top right corner of the tweet to open the dropdown menu. In the menu, click on “Report Tweet”.
In the next step, click on “Start report”.
Twitter will ask if you are the victim or someone else or everyone. Choose accordingly and click on “Next”.
Now select the option that says “Shown sensitive or disturbing content” and click on “Next”.
In the next step, choose “Child sexual exploitation” and click “Next”.
Now confirm that you are reporting ‘child sexual exploitation on Twitter. Click on “Yes, continue”.
Now Twitter will reconfirm what you have selected and mention the Twitter handle you are reporting. If you feel there are more such tweets from the specific account, click “Add other Tweets”, or if you want to explain and provide more context to the report, click “Add additional context”. Click on “Submit”.
Now the report has been submitted, and Twitter will review it. Click on “Done”.
Bleu pointed out the need for a separate tab for adults experiencing sexual exploitation. She said, “It needs to be crystal clear for both adults and children experiencing sexual exploitation, and the reporting options need to be separate.”
Hashtags are being removed from the platform
Several hashtags are allegedly used to sell CSE material on social media platforms. In a video shared by Teslarati, two attorneys, Lisa Haba and Peter Gentala, representing the victims in the case against Twitter, explained how such tags were being used.
OpIndia investigated a couple of hashtags known to be used in CSE content. A similar search was carried out by Teslarati as well. It was found that Twitter is removing the majority of the content. However, new accounts and content keep popping up that needs to be dealt with. Some accounts were seen posting requests for such content.
OpIndia also noticed that while some of the content was visible in the “top” tab, other tabs like “photos”, “videos”, and “latest” were either empty or had only a couple of tweets. Some of the hashtags were still in use but seeing the way Twitter is actively removing CSE content, it is very much possible that the engineers at Twitter will find a way to curb the new content effectively. It must be noted that such updates are coming at a time when some “experts” have claimed that in the lack of a moderation team at Twitter, it would be hard for the platform to moderate explicit content.
Speaking to Teslarati, Bleu said the predators on the social media platform would continue to use a variety of hashtags. However, the same hashtags could also help the authorities to catch criminals. Bleu said, “After years of advocating for the minor survivors of Twitter, I’ve never been as hopeful as I am right now. I don’t expect perfection from a platform. All I’ve ever wanted was to see a sense of urgency around such a serious matter. In many of these cases, this is a matter of life or death for each victim, so every second matters.”
Bleu mentioned in a tweet that curbing content for three prominent hashtags does not mean the fight was over. She said, “Some of the other hashtags (outside of the main three) are still actively engaging in sharing and posting illegal child exploitation. Please be mindful of this. It’s not over yet.”
Update: Some of the other hashtags (outside of the main three) are still actively engaging in sharing and posting illegal child exploitation. Please be mindful of this.
— Eliza (@elizableu) November 20, 2022
It’s not over yet.
It is notable that since October 2020, Twitter has had a separate section for reporting CSE content on the platform. However, as per experts like Bleu, minimal effort was made by the platform until Musk took over the company. In October 2022, OpIndia detailed how, under ex-Twitter employee Vijaya Gadde, who was removed soon after Musk took over along with other top officials, Twitter had refused to take down child porn content even as the victim begged to remove it. Gadde was head of legal, policy, and trust at Twitter. Her role included handling issues such as harassment, misinformation, and harmful speech. Her failure to address repeated requests to take action against CSE content was heavily criticised by experts, victims and the public in general. Not only Gadde’s department, other teams, including human rights etc., failed to address the issue.
Disclaimer: OpIndia became aware of some of the hashtags used for CSE material through the lawsuit-related document(s). We investigated the hashtags explicitly used for such content. However, we have decided not to publish the hashtags for safety concerns. We are trying to contact Bleu for more information on the matter.
