Researchers from the prestigious Stanford University have made a chilling discovery about the Mastodon social network, which promised to be a more secure and decentralized alternative to Twitter. Unfortunately, the newly published report reveals that Mastodon is riddled with child abuse and pornography material.
In a first cursory search, the investigators managed to find hundreds of posts of illegal material. already registered in specialized databases, because it has been previously identified as harmful content. Alarmingly, in less than five minutes of searching, these experts were able to uncover illegal content simply by using hashtags and keywords commonly associated with child pornography material.
In addition to direct posts, the researchers also found thousands of posts that referenced external websites where this type of illegal material was shared.. This discovery adds to the severity of the situation, as it indicates that some Mastodon users are promoting and driving inappropriate content to external platforms.
One of the researchers involved, David Thiel, expressed concern in a statement to The Washington Post: “We got more hits from photoDNA, a tool that identifies photos of sexual abuse on the Internet, in a two-day period than we probably have in the entire history of our organization when analyzing social media, and it’s not even close. Much of this is simply the result of what appears to be a lack of tools that centralized social media platforms use to address child safety concerns.”
These revelations have sparked a serious debate about the responsibility of social media platforms in protecting the most vulnerable users, especially children. Although Mastodon has been praised for its decentralized approach and its promise of a safer online experience, it is clear that greater implementation of detection and moderation tools is needed to combat illegal and harmful content.
It is crucial that social media companies, including decentralized alternatives like Mastodon, take responsibility and work collaboratively with experts and specialized organizations to ensure a safe online environment free from illegal and abusive content. Respect for privacy and freedom of expression must go hand in hand with the protection of the most vulnerable in the online community.
Keep reading:
– Instagram algorithm could be promoting child pornography networks
– A teacher accused of child pornography threw himself into the void before being extradited from Colombia to the US.
– Former ABC News journalist arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, could face 20 years in prison