India lockdown: Online child pornography consumption spikes by in India, says ICPF

Consumption of child pornography content in India has spiked by 95 per cent amid lockdown, according to a recent report by an NGO India Child Protection Fund (ICPF).

The consumption of child pornography has increased 95 per cent between March 24 and 26. According to data provided by online data monitoring websites, there has been an increase in searches for terms like “child porn,” “sexy child” and “teen sex videos,” the report said citing data from pornography website Pornhub.

The spike in consumption indicates that a number of paedophiles, child rapists and child pornography addicts have migrated online. This had made the internet an unsafe place for children and it could also result in a “drastic rise” in sexual crimes targeting children said Nivedita Ahuja, spokesperson for ICPF as quoted by The Hindu.

International agencies such as Europol, the United Nations and ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) have also reported increased online activity from paedophiles and child pornography addicts amid lockdown. They have taken to targeting children by befriending them online on social media to ‘groom’ them and later lure them to perform sexual activities through photos and videos, the report said.

ICPF has demanded an urgent crackdown on child pornography pan-India, using AI to monitor such activities. It suggests the use of AI to monitor hosting, sharing, viewing and downloading of material that includes child sexual abuse which can then be reported to government agencies, The Hindu reported.

The ICPF, which is managed by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s son Bhuwan Ribhu, was started in January 2020 to support NGOs with funding resources for preventing exploitation of children.