US law requires that electronic communication service providers report known or discovered child sexual abuse material to NCMEC. Other apps including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram - all owned by Meta - use algorithmic detection methods to constantly scan unencrypted text and media uploaded to their platforms, such as content on a user’s profile, to find signs of child sexual abuse imagery.

“Wickr needs to do more in regards to identifying and taking steps to prevent child sexual abuse material being traded on their platform,” said John Shehan, vice president of NCMEC. No child sexual abuse imagery was viewed in the course of reporting this article. On social media platforms such as Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter, NBC News found dozens of forums, accounts and blogs where hundreds of posts have been made soliciting minors, those who have access to them, or those interested in trading child sexual abuse material alongside Wickr screen names. Posts linking Wickr and child sexual abuse material are also littered across the internet. They point to direct knowledge of child exploitation investigations and sting operations, interviews with victims and perpetrators of abuse, and interactions with individuals soliciting child sexual abuse material as evidence that Wickr is being used by many people who exploit children. These court cases represent only a small fraction of the problem, according to two law enforcement officers involved in investigating child exploitation cases, two experts studying child exploitation, and two people who have seen first-hand how individuals frequently use Wickr and other platforms for criminal transactions on the dark web. More than 25 per cent of the prosecutions stemmed from undercover operations conducted by law enforcement on Wickr and other tech platforms. Nearly every prosecution reviewed has resulted in a conviction aside from those still being adjudicated.Īlmost none of the criminal complaints reviewed note co-operation from Wickr itself at the time of filing, aside from limited instances where Wickr was legally compelled to provide information via a search warrant.

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