Aggressive and violent behavior: Analysis of topic popularity within a child sexual exploitation Tor hidden service

Analysis of topic popularity within a child sexual exploitation Tor hidden service. Jessica N. Owens et al. Aggression and Violent Behavior, November 21 2022, 101808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2022.101808

Highlights

• Quantifies offender consumption of child sexual abuse material – i.e., preferences and frequency of access – in absence of saved collections on electronic devices.

• More interest and activity was observed among threads with hardcore child sexual abuse material, and the overt action of giving “thanks” served to reinforce and perpetuate the amount of hardcore content on the site.

• Threads containing visual material were viewed most frequently among the members of this Tor hidden service community.

• Thread titles relating to soft core/non-nude material or modeling visual material decreased the frequency of viewing.

• More egregious (hardcore) child sexual abuse material is viewed, downloaded, and “thanked” most often within Darkweb child sexual exploitation communities; despite a copious variety of child sexual abuse material available and equally advertised.

Abstract: Knowledge about the online bulletin board communities dedicated to child sexual exploitation (CSE) located on the Darkweb (Tor) has generally been limited to those that investigate and prosecute individuals participating in those sites, as accessing them and viewing the abuse material is a crime. This leaves many of those in the CSE field without a scientifically validated foundation of the behaviors typically demonstrated by members of these CSE online communities. The following research empirically examines topic popularity of one Darkweb CSE Tor hidden service that was seized by a federal law enforcement agency. Analyses reveal that some topics tend to be viewed significantly more often, and descriptors about specific sexual acts and the ages of children portrayed in the thread titles correlate with the frequency of viewing, approving and downloading of that material. Implications of these findings for professionals working in the CSE field will be discussed.

Keywords: Child sexual exploitation (CSE)Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)Child pornographyDarkwebTorOnline community