The Government asks the Prosecutor's Office to close Tiktok to investigate alleged cases of child sexual abuse on the platform

The Ministry of Youth and Children has asked the Prosecutor's Office to "act" in the investigation carried out by the Maldita.es Foundation into alleged cases of child sexual abuse on the TikTok platform, and has proposed paralyzing the platform's services in Spain, if it appears "opportune."

Sources from the department headed by Sira Rego have reported that the Ministry has sent a letter to the State Attorney General's Office following the information published by Maldita.es about alleged cases of child sexual abuse on said platform and "the lack of effective mechanisms on the social network to prevent the dissemination of said material."

In the letter, Youth and Children requests that the Prosecutor's Office, "in the exercise of its powers, adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents who may be affected," and "raises the possibility of paralyzing the platform's services in Spain, if this is considered appropriate."

20,000 profiles of potential pedophiles

The aforementioned investigation by Maldita.es has detected more than a thousand videos of child sexual abuse on TikTok, with more than 48 million views, and more than 20,000 profiles of potential pedophiles who exchange or sell this type of material, of which more than 7,000 operate in Spanish.

The investigation has also located 780 accounts that use the platform to attract buyers of child sexual abuse material, 91 live broadcasts of minors in 17 countries in which users request actions, sometimes sexual, in exchange for money, and a community of more than 2,000 members that searches for baby content.

This is the third investigation by Maldita.es into the alleged "inaction" of TikTok regarding child sexual abuse material, which denounces that its search engine is "an unfiltered tool for a pedophile" because, together with the recommendation algorithm, it allows finding this content, to such an extent that the researchers came to see the rape of a baby live.

For 35 days, Maldita.es specialists have analyzed profiles, comments on videos and live broadcasts on TikTok and have created accounts to investigate and observe how the algorithm responds to interactions with this content and how quickly it displays related accounts, videos and live streams. And they have documented activity especially in Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma and Russia, although they have also found evidence in other countries in the European Union and Latin America.

Some of the potential pedophiles have acknowledged to the Foundation that they have material from their own children or nephews and others have even offered to make live broadcasts with their children. In addition, they have confirmed that members of this community of more than 2,000 users dedicated to searching for baby content share material from their own minor relatives.

Also that in the 91 documented live broadcasts, viewers asked minors to perform certain actions, some of a sexual nature, in exchange for money, despite TikTok's rules that prohibit users of those ages from doing live broadcasts. Situations that develop, as they explain, both in private homes and in educational centers, with minors transmitting from classrooms, bathrooms or during recess.

The platform, according to the Foundation, does not avoid live broadcasts, but even "advertises" them, it says, and "earns money from pedophiles' gifts to girls."

Only five of the 50 reported videos were removed

Researchers have reported a sample of 50 videos with explicit child sexual abuse material, which have accumulated 8.9 million views and more than 150,000 likes. However, "despite the crudeness of the images," according to the Foundation, the platform only removed five, 10%, and blocked another thirteen, 26%, only for users in Spain.

Seventy-two hours after the complaints, 40% of the accounts that had published this content were still active. More than 10,000 accounts have also been identified that request exchanges of sexual images in video comments and have reported a sample of 35 publications that expressly requested images of minors, even as young as eight, in 15 countries, six of them in the EU.