Why did a crime fighting charity partner with a criminal enterprise?

In April last year we discovered that Crime Stoppers International had entered into a commercial partnership with the criminal enterprise Pornhub through its parent company and private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners/Aylo.

Could Artificial Intelligence be the means of preventing sexual exploitation?

A BBC article reporting on new AI sex dolls in a German cyber brothel quoted the co-founder of an agency behind one of the first AI influencers who argued that AI could mitigate ethical concerns and prevent the sexual exploitation of individuals. 

On a thread on X (formerly Twitter), our Campaigns Manager Caitlin Roper responded to this claim.

In 2020, after the discovery of illegal child sexual abuse material being sold in Australian stores – and with an unrestricted age rating -  we called for an overhaul of the Classifications system. 

We’ve discovered AI-generated images of young children on Instagram we believe constitute illegal child sexual abuse material.

The images depict little boys in minimal clothing, some adorned with fetish gear, and their bodies oiled. When we reported the account to eSafety, we were told the content was not actionable given the lack of nudity and “non-sexualised posing”.

"Men’s sexual entitlement to the bodies of children must be challenged, not accommodated."

In December last year, were invited to join other child protection representatives in a roundtable consultation at RMIT in November with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, Ms. Mama Fatima Singhateh, as part of her country visit to Australia to learn more on the risks facing Australian children and young people.

Movement Director Melinda Tankard Reist gave evidence, speaking on the negative influence of pornography, how it operated as a grooming tool, and was contributing to a rise in harmful sexual behaviours in young people. Campaigns Manager Caitlin Roper, who wrote a book on sex dolls, prepared a submission on the trade in child sex abuse dolls. You can read it below. 

Collective Shout have been campaigning to have child sex abuse dolls removed from online platforms such as Etsy, Twitter and Alibaba. As in the case below, many in possession of the prohibited child abuse dolls are also found to have other child abuse material in their possession.

Broken Hill man arrested and charged following alleged importation of child-like sex doll

A 24-year-old Broken Hill man has been arrested and charged by New South Wales Police after an Australian Border Force (ABF) investigation into an alleged attempt to import a child-like sex doll.

The life-like doll was detected by ABF officers in Sydney, who were examining air cargo at the border.

On 25 May 2023, ABF Investigators and NSW Police executed Customs Act 1901 search and seizure warrants on a premises in Broken Hill, NSW.

During the search, officers located additional prohibited material including a further child-like sex doll along with what is alleged to be child abuse material on a number of mobile phones, laptops and hard drives that were seized as evidence.

Sub calls for increased sentencing, age verification and state laws against child sex abuse dolls 

In our submission on Law Enforcement Capabilities in Relation to child exploitation we highlighted our decade of work to combat child sexual exploitation. We informed the Committee on a range of related topics including Live Distant Child Abuse, sexting, self-generated child sexual abuse material, weak sentencing for perpetrators of child exploitation crimes, and the need for a fast-tracked age verification system to help protect children from exposure to pornography.