Read on Twitter
for months, my colleague @mhkeller and i have been investigating one of the darkest, most depraved topics i've ever encountered: online child sexual abuse material, also known as child pornography. what we found is deeply troubling. 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/28/us/child-sex-abuse.html
images and videos of children – yes infants and toddlers – being raped and tortured are traded and shared throughout the internet, flooding social media, cloud storage and even search engines. 2/
last year, over 
45 MILLION images and videos were reported to the federal clearing house that is responsible for collecting, reviewing and distributing the illegal imagery. that's more than 120,000 every day. that's 85 every minute. of every day. for a year. 3/
45 MILLION images and videos were reported to the federal clearing house that is responsible for collecting, reviewing and distributing the illegal imagery. that's more than 120,000 every day. that's 85 every minute. of every day. for a year. 3/
every single image or video is documentation of a crime, and all are beyond the pale. i've read descriptions of abuse that were previously unfathomable to me. they've rocked me to my core. they raise fundamental questions about humanity. 4/
we've spoken with survivors, whose lives are inextricably changed. not only because of the abuse, but because of the ongoing revictimization caused by imagery of the worst moments of their lives circulated online. 5/
these interviews were gutting. one woman we spoke to, who was filmed being assaulted by her father when she was 11, talked about the devastation she faced every single day. 6/
“You’re just trying to feel O.K. and not let something like this define your whole life," she said. "But the thing with the pictures is — that’s the thing that keeps this alive,” she said. 
7/
7/
this investigation raises many difficult issues, foremost is encryption: the same technologies that offer anonymity and protection for whistleblowers, dissidents and those who are persecuted, also offer dark corners for criminals to hide. 8/
facebook messenger was responsible for nearly 12 MILLION of the 18 million reports to the national center last year. earlier this year the company announced it was going to encrypt the service. 9/
12 MILLION of the 18 million reports to the national center last year. earlier this year the company announced it was going to encrypt the service. 9/
company spokespeople told us that encrypting facebook messenger would effectively blind them to the content of messages, including those that are trading illegal imagery. 10/
records obtained by The Times show that for every report of child sexual abuse imagery sent to law enforcment resulting from WhatsApp, facebook's encrypted messaging service, there were more than 70 from facebook messenger. 11/
encryption, and the right to privacy, is a human right. but things aren't so black and white when protecting privacy also means that millions and millions of reports of the worst abuse fathomable are soon to be cloaked in darkness. 12/
our reporting showed that in these dark corners, pedophiles are sharing increasingly heinous imagery of torture and abuse, with younger and younger victims. like all things internet, people are driven to extremes, and these extremes are truly terrifying. 13/
i was introduced to the term 'hurtcore' and it's something i can never unlearn. hurtcore images include images of children being tortured, often in addition to sexually abused. things like burning, binding, striking and choking. just awful, terrible horror. 14/
the federal response has been disappointing. in 2008, recognizing how bad the problem had already become, a law was passed to provide more resources to law enforcement, better leadership, and a more informed and coordinated response. but the law has not been followed. 15/
funding for law enforcement on the front lines - true heroes - has consistently been half of what was intended, even as reports of the crime have skyrocketed. this has caused them to severely curtail proactive investigations. 16/
it has also meant that some law enforcement agencies we spoke with have had to make an unbelievable decision: to only focus on reports of abuse of infants and toddlers. there are just so many reports they need to prioritize. so they prioritize babies. dear god. 17/
i can't say enough about how amazing the law enforcment who are part of the internet crimes against children taskforce are. every single day they deal with the worst of humanity. they fight for all of us, and they need support. financial support. mental support. our support. 18/
the tech companies play a pivotal role in the problem, and we will have subsequent stories that explore this issue, but they could be doing more. for sure they have stepped up their efforts to find and remove this imagery, part of the reason for the explosion in reports. 19/
but our reporting uncovered instance after instance of companies taking weeks if not months to respond to search warrants and preservation requests, stalling investigators efforts and frustrating law enforcement across the united states. 20/
this is a tough topic to report on, and it's a topic that most people do not want to talk about. we heard of politicians, judges and other media orgs turning away from the topic because of how horrible it is. we understand it's hard to read about as well. 21/
but every single person we spoke with - survivors, law enforcement, lawyers, advocates, and others - said that the issue needed more attention. more people need to be aware. more politicians need to pay attention. more resources. more care. 22/
there are two bylines on the story but so many more people worked on this project. @kholoodeid's photographs and reporting was fundamental. @rich_harris made some truly gobsmacking graphics. @iamrumz and @aaramic made a story about some that is so ugly look beautiful. 23/
this is just the start. we have more coming - lots more. and while it's not easy to read (or write), the @nytimes is committed to this line of reporting. i'm grateful for the opportunity to help children who need it, and to you all for reading. 
24/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/28/us/child-sex-abuse.html
24/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/28/us/child-sex-abuse.html
to report online child sexual abuse, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children https://report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678. 25/25
