originalAlgorithm trap: How can pornography addiction turn ordinary people into 'accomplices' to child sexual exploitation?

During their weekend vacation, Andy and his wife received a call from a neighbor saying, "The police are at your house, they are looking for you

He immediately understood: 'I know what I've done, and when I received the call, I was scared out of my wits - not only afraid of others knowing my secret, but also afraid of facing myself. That sense of guilt is suffocating.'

Before the police arrived, Andy had watched and shared footage of children being sexually abused for several months. At first, he tried to hide it from his wife: "I'm afraid she'll drive me away, but if she really does that, I won't blame her

After returning home, he confessed to his wife that his addiction to pornography was getting deeper and deeper. In those pornographic chat rooms, someone exchanged children's photos for adult pornography in my hand

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Unlike Andy, Mark initially didn't realize why the police came knocking on his door. At that time, my wife walked in anxiously and said there were police officers at the door. He thought it was related to the community theft case, "but they said they needed to talk to me alone and then told me they were arrested for possessing indecent images of children

Mark said he was shocked at the time. I know I've watched a lot of pornographic content, but I really didn't expect there to be minors inside. They said they found over 200 illegal images

As a successful businessman, Mark's arrest became a public shame. Four police officers were driving two cars with law enforcement cameras. They said to my sons, 'Don't worry, Dad is just here to assist us,' and then stuffed me into the back seat of the car. In the photos taken by the police that day, I looked like I was lost

Data shows that among the 850 people arrested each month in the UK for cybercrime, professions such as teachers, bus drivers, and doctors are all involved. What is even more worrying is that the criminal community is showing a trend towards youthfulness.

These arrest data are just a microcosm of the worsening global pedophilia trend. 2024 is the most serious year in the history of online child sexual abuse incidents. The UK Internet Watch Foundation alone deleted 300000 web pages containing illegal content, with each page containing at least one (or even hundreds or thousands) illegal image and video.

Police and child protection experts have discovered a common cause: the explosive growth of free online pornography over the past 20 years. Nowadays, teenagers can easily see extreme violent content seen by the previous generation on their phones. Research shows that addiction to pornography may become an entry point for exposure to images of child sexual assault.

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When former BBC anchor Hugh Edwards was sentenced to probation for possessing pornographic photos of a 7-year-old child, the public was shocked to realize that about 80% of child pornography image holders have not been sentenced to imprisonment. The UK National Crime Agency has warned that 830000 adults (1.6% of the total population) may pose a threat to children nationwide.

Like many criminals, Andy emphasized that he fundamentally has no interest in children: "I fully admit my guilt, and this is no excuse. Looking back at my actions, there is only deep regret and shame. But at first, I didn't want to watch children's content. Initially, I just used pornography to relieve stress, until I got deeper and deeper, and eventually became desensitized to ordinary content

I see pornography as a way to deal with various problems - stress, loss, and daily trivialities. I watch pornographic content to get strong dopamine stimulation. But those videos quickly become boring, and my brain feels' this is not enough, 'and soon starts watching rape fantasy content - there are many such categories on mainstream websites, followed by teenage content, and algorithms constantly push more extreme things

He believes that mainstream pornographic websites are fueling people's interest in teenage girls. They constantly explore boundaries, such as posting content about students wearing school uniforms, incest themes, and content about age matching

When asked about his moral judgment when watching underage videos, Andy admitted, "You should have doubted whether they were adults, but you would have been self paralyzed - since the website is legal and can be watched on public transportation, the sense of responsibility is slowly eroded

In the end, he entered a chat room for pornography enthusiasts and received his first child pornography image there: "You know this is wrong, but dopamine stimulation overwhelms everything. I feel like the neural pathways in the brain have been altered by all the pornography content I've watched

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Mark's experience is exactly the same. He admitted that he was initially interested in some legitimate teenage content, but the algorithm kept pushing it, and he eventually came into contact with child pornography. I have done about 40 psychological counseling sessions, trying to figure out why I ended up being arrested by the police. I feel fear and disgust towards myself, and this feeling will accompany me for the rest of my life

He, who frequently travels, sees pornography as a way to relieve loneliness: "When I was working abroad, I spent 5 hours a day scrolling through my phone watching movies. The police couldn't find any record of me actively searching for child pornography - all illegal content came from system recommendations. The 'more similar content' button on pornographic websites is like drugs, making me increasingly numb to teenage pornography

Mark was ultimately convicted of possessing Level 3 child pornography, with the most severe Level A involving sexual assault of children under the age of 18. Now I understand that when I saw underage videos, I should have immediately turned off my computer. But when you watch pornography for three or four hours in a row and click on the link more than 200 times, your brain is already out of control

Michael Hiss, a criminal psychology expert with 30 years of experience, pointed out that "there has been a significant change in the composition of criminals nowadays. In the early years, they were mostly serious offenders who organized child abuse, but now a large number of 'low-level criminals' have emerged, which has overwhelmed the police

He believes that this is directly related to the proliferation of violent pornography: "Most of the criminals I have come into contact with have gone through a 'gradual escalation' process, and this association is beyond doubt

Heath said, "30 years ago, themes like 'stepfathers and stepdaughters, aunties and boys' were seen as perverts, but now they have become humorous labels on mainstream websites. Although these are legal adult films, they are undermining moral defenses

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Like other countries, the UK is strengthening its regulation of the sex industry. According to the new Online Safety Act, pornographic websites are required to implement age verification measures before July to prevent children from accessing their content.

In January 2025, Pornhub's parent company ECP went to London from the United States and Canada to lobby against the implementation of age verification on websites in the UK, advocating for the use of "device side" interception - that is, mobile operators blocking underage access. Our Vice President of Public Affairs, Sarah Bain, said, "We are the industry benchmark and strictly prohibit any content that goes beyond our boundaries." She cited the platform as having blocked 34000 sensitive words, "including many legal terms, which creators are unhappy about, but we insist on setting an ethical example

However, the anti human trafficking organization Cease has revealed that Pornhub still allows a large amount of content that implies underage abuse to circulate on the website. Pornhub responded by stating that "vocabulary needs to be reviewed in context, such as' dad 'possibly being cosplay, and all content undergoes manual review. ”The platform also stated that it has collaborated with anti child abuse agencies in the UK to issue warnings when users search for illegal content.

Although the World Health Organization does not include addiction to pornography in its list of diseases, neuroscientist Norman Doig pointed out that "dopamine released while watching pornography reshapes brain circuits, causing people to constantly pursue more stimulating content." Data from last month showed that one-fifth of adults admit that pornography consumption is becoming increasingly extreme.

Countless families will still fall apart due to the knocking of police doors. Mark got divorced. "People's first reaction would be to call me a pedophile - it's even scarier than a murderer. But I'm not, I'm just a stupid drug addict

Andy is grateful for his arrest: "Just like the Alcoholics Anonymous, I can't stop without external force. Now I know that behind those images are real childrenReturn to Sohu to view more

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