Social Media: Protecting Children Online
Germany plans to give undercover investigators the power to use fake child pornography to detect pedophile predators on the dark internet, Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht. Legal experts from the governing Christian Democrat and Social Democrat coalition agreed on the reforms in October 2019. It will be added to a law on cyber grooming — when an adult befriends a child online with the intention of later carrying out sexual abuse — being debated in parliament.
Despite the good intentions, there are reservations about using fake images depicting exploited children. "The goal should actually be to eliminate child pornography material from the internet, and not to enrich it with computer-generated material," said Stephan Thomae, the deputy leader of the opposition Free Democrats' parliamentary group.
Unfortunately, child sexual exploitation has soared in recent years as reflected by the ever increasing production and distribution of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), according to police reports. Practices such as 'sexting' (the self-production and sharing of sexualised messages or images) also place children at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation.