Alternatively, setup your own instance is my best advice. If you have some technical skills to setup one. That would help decentralizing the most of course. If you need to help. We are happy to help.

[–] matcha_addict@lemy.lol 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Is there a still a concern for self hosters of public instances regarding CSAM content? And if so, any guidance on how to mitigate it?

I am very interested in self hosting, but I am worried of its legal repercussions, especially since I am an immigrant in the country where I live and afraid to get in any legal trouble.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The EFF had a handy explainer a couple of years ago on basically that subject:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/user-generated-content-and-fediverse-legal-primer

Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): Service providers are required to report any CSAM on their servers to the CyberTipline operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a private, nonprofit organization established by the U.S. Congress, and can be criminally prosecuted for knowingly facilitating its distribution. NCMEC shares those reports with law enforcement. However, you are not required to affirmatively monitor your instance for CSAM.

By my understanding, you don't have to setup proactive monitoring for CSAM being federated in, but if you specifically spot CSAM or it is reported to you then you are legally obligated to report it

[–] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 2 points 2 months ago

As a slight side note, that really only directly applies to people in the US.

Other countries have different requirements around what you're required to do, and some are stricter and some are uh, not as strict.

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 2 points 2 months ago

I would not risk it if you're at risk of getting kicked out or something, especially if your host country is stricter on that type of content. Just join one of the existing instances and subscribe to whatever Lemmy communities you want to see federated with it.

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

As long as you report the content and act fast if such kind of material is on your site. Also you can disable account registration, so it only you and maybe some friends you know that have an account.

Last but not least, you can also block domains in Mbin. I blocked some domains I just do not want to federate with!

NSFW site

Like lemmynsfw (dot) com.

And yes you can add that in the admin panel yourself.

[–] matcha_addict@lemy.lol 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Even if I disable account registration, I may still be liable if somehow the content ended up on my instance due to federation right? Or is that not a concern?

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 2 months ago

Well.. the answer is always yes. But you can mitigate the problem further by not only disable account registration but also check the setting "Force users to login before they can access any content".

So in the end, that means that nobody can see any content without logging in. And since you are the only account, only you can see the federated content.

[–] slcw@newsie.social 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

@matcha_addict @melroy It's not possible to stop every instance of a user posting illegal content. What's important is that you have a clear policy, and a moderation team that consistently and proactively enforces that policy.

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 2 months ago

I'm personally the whole moderation team. That is how it is sometimes.