Investigator:

Irene Kamara

Abstract:

Sextortion is a form of cyberviolence in which ‘offenders demand that
victims provide them with sexual images, sexual favours, or other things
of value and threaten to harm or embarrass victims if they fail to
comply’. The 2021, the Europol Report on Internet Organised Crime Threat
Assessment stressed a steep increase in online grooming and coercive
practices that incite minors to self-generate and share abusive
material. The potential harm on minors from sextortion ranges from
losing relationships with friends, financial losses, to mental health
problems to physical (self-)harm. Offenders exploit design
vulnerabilities and lack of adequate oversight mechanisms in social
media and gaming platforms to find and exploit their potential victims.
Next to a crime environment, online platforms are also used as a channel
of communication of offenders.

Social media and gaming platform providers are often exempted from
liability for the content published or shared by the platform users.
Nevertheless, such providers are increasingly obliged to report, or even
to detect child sexual abuse material. Detection and reporting
obligations are a form of responsibilisation of online service
providers. Taking into account the above, the proposed research aims at
exploring detection and reporting responsibilities of online social
media and gaming platform providers in the European Union and the United
States. The comparison between the obligations for online social media
and gaming platform providers embedded in the US and EU legislation will
provide insights into the constitutive elements of different models for
involving platform providers in the policy strategies for combatting
sextortion of minors. Alongside with the models, strengths and
limitations with regard to fundamental rights for example will give a
comprehensive picture of those models.