this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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Data.

The charity warns organised criminals are taking advantage of “systemic failures” in online security infrastructure.

Commercial websites host a wide range of child sexual abuse imagery which is available for users to buy. The imagery for sale can involve victims of all ages, and can include some of the most severe and extreme forms of sexual abuse.

Some of these sites have been deliberately disguised to appear as non-criminal sites or to look inactive in an attempt to operate on the open web while avoiding detection. Many of these sites accept payment via cryptocurrencies, card payments or money transfer services.

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[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 146 points 4 days ago (3 children)

We can mobilize tens of thousands of ICE officers to get day laborers, but can't afford a few hundred detectives to hunt down these eminently findable clearnet site operators.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 53 points 4 days ago

In "fairness", all it takes to be an ice agent is two legs, a trigger finger and the ability to goose step with one hand raised. It takes a small amount of actual brain power to do real investigations

[–] FlowerFan@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In all fairness, the ICE goons are probably hunting down a lot of these sites in their free time, if you catch my drift.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I don't appreciate your tone.

Yes, many Ice Agents do important research like this on their free time. They even collect it and store it on their personal devices for future study. This is how they get into criminal's heads.

They have to get down in the trenches and if uncovering a network of pedophiles requires becoming one themselves, then that is what they do. For their country, of course. /S

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 17 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Well, who would have thunk that people would suffer and pedophiles would be enjoying safe havens if we put the Epstein class in charge of the country?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 42 points 4 days ago (2 children)

If these sites are known, why are they allowed to operate? AFAIK there is no country where it is legal.

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 28 points 4 days ago (2 children)

In some cases they’re deliberately allowed to operate as a honey trap, allowing authorities to identify and arrest as many users as possible.

If you simply shut the site down, the users go elsewhere and you have to find them again.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

to identify and arrest as many users as possible.

You mean, to identify the gangs running them. Identifying the users helps nothing, same for just shutting it down.

Just wanted to point out the erronous criminalizing the user mindset the media mafia pushes.

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

No, the users are definitely also criminals.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Depends on jurisdiction. And better they watch it and not do it, no? Remember, pedophilia is a disorder.

[–] QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That reasoning would be fine if it weren't for the fact that the gangs have to abduct and harm children to make their CSAM.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

With AI and Hentai? Well, i'm not a phsychologist, so i guess it's not always enough?

I only wanted to say that you shouldn't conflate the disorder with the people who act on it. And i also don't want to downplay the problem.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

OK, personally I don't think such honey traps should be legal, you can never say for sure, that a person falling for it, would use an illegal site if the honey trap didn't exist.
IMO it's immoral, and luckily in my country they are in principle illegal, although the police here is trying to push the line on that.

The honey trap could be the thing that "ignited" the interest for an individual!
It can also be the trigger for other people to make similar sites, as in if they can do it, we can do it too.
Honey traps break with the fundamentals of justice in many ways, and making them legal is a sign of a sick society IMO.

[–] Zozano@aussie.zone 12 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

You don't just accidentally stumble upon a honey pot/illegal website, you intentionally stumble into them by going to shady websites, and then clicking links to even shadier websites.

Why would you click on the links to these shadier websites? Because the thumbnails approximate what you're looking for; barely legal teens, only not barely.

Pedophelic interest doesn't "ignite". It's not like other kinks/fetishes which require exposure to discover.

The real immorality of the issue should come from the fact that the honey pots are still using child sexual abuse material, which is almost certainly used without the adult victims consent.

This does raise an interesting ethical dilemma; if an adult consents to law enforcement using CSAM made while they were a minor for the purposes of identifying individuals with the capacity to cause harm, or contribute financially to those causing harm - is that ethical?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

You don’t just accidentally stumble upon a honey pot/illegal website

That is probably true, I have never seen such a site myself, and if I stumbled upon it, I would leave immediately.

The real immorality of the issue should come from the fact that the honey pots are still using child sexual abuse material, which is almost certainly used without the adult victims consent.

I don't get how that can be legal. But USA is very extreme with their double standards in their laws.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today -1 points 3 days ago

usually those kinks and fetishes are not found in the traditional PH-type websites so the user look for sites that are off the grid, like yo said shady sketchy and one of them leads to CP eventually.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Is it really illegal if it’s intentionally never prosecuted?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago

Seems it's not illegal if you are a billionaire.
But at least in Europe it has consequences for people if they are in the Epstein files.
But in USA it seems it's just considered to be a group of friends with special interests! 🤢

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 30 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Y’all know pedophiles run the world, right? Like, NO one is stopping them in any but the most limited ways.

[–] cmbabul@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago

“You government is run by pedophiles, they ordered you to die for Israel”

[–] devolution@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Meanwhile human trafficking services have received substantial budget cuts.

I wonder why.

[–] fira@lemmy.today 31 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I wonder if the pedo-king Donald Trump has a stake in these sites, meaning they’ll never be taken down

[–] EvergreenGuru@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Nope, he had a guy for that. Plus he could get someone to find him a woman like Stormy Daniels.

[–] MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm sorry to tell you, but Epstein isn't the going guy doing this for rich and powerful elites. Not by a long shot.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 2 points 3 days ago

Allegedly.

I didn't examine the body.

[–] MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yes, that's my point. Just because he's dead does not mean that all of the his has stopped. This type of guy has existed for a long time, and there are a lot of them. If anything, this whole Epstein thing is the perfect distraction from the fact that this is all still actively happening.

[–] Fishnoodle@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Who would have thought, Trump steals another election and now pedos are making more money than ever

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 5 points 4 days ago

These strange coincidences just keep piling on, eh?

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

there was some sites like that disguised as a reddit style pics/ adult porn, its only when they get to look at the users profiles it will eventually lead to CP discussion. one last decade was shutdown for its inability to pay the bills/ or some legal issue who the owner was, not because of the cp people were complaining about.

[–] iThinkDifferentThanU@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

the Republicans running it fify but I guess gang fits as well

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] EvergreenGuru@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

They mean the website operators.