Last year, tech companies reported over 45 million online photos and videos of children being sexually abused — more than double what they found the previous year.

The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?

Online predators create and share the illegal material, which is increasingly cloaked by technology. Tech companies, the government and the authorities are no match.

By MICHAEL H. KELLER and GABRIEL J.X. DANCE

The images are horrific. Children, some just 3 or 4 years old, being sexually abused and in some cases tortured.

Pictures of child sexual abuse have long been produced and shared to satisfy twisted adult obsessions. But it has never been like this: Technology companies reported a record 45 million online photos and videos of the abuse last year.

More than a decade ago, when the reported number was less than a million, the proliferation of the explicit imagery had already reached a crisis point. Tech companies, law enforcement agencies and legislators in Washington responded, committing to new measures meant to rein in the scourge. Landmark legislation passed in 2008.

Yet the explosion in detected content kept growing — exponentially...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/28/us/child-sex-abuse.html