Stop It Now!, an organisation that aims to prevent the sexual abuse of children, has launched a chatbot that is be activated if users of the pornographic film platform PornHub in Flanders attempt to find child pornography. It is hoped that the chatbot will not only prevent users from seeking material that features the sexual exploitation of minors but also encourage those that wish to view such footage to seek help.
New chatbot on Pornhub aims to dissuade users from looking for footage featuring the sexual abuse of minors
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From now on Stop It Now! will be using AI in its efforts to discourage people from searching for footage featuring child sexual abuse on the porn platform PornHub. Those that use PornHub in Flanders already received a warning message if they attempted to use the site to find child porn. Now they will also see the chatbot.
Stop It Now!’s spokeswoman Larissa Van Puyvelde told journalists that the aim is “To guide people that want to change their disturbing behaviour towards help”. While working on the Chabot project, Stop It Now! worked closely with the company behind PornHub Aylo and the UK’s Lucy Faithfull Foundation to make a tool that had been in used in the United Kingdom since 2022 available here in Dutch.
Stop It Now! evaluated the chatbot’s impact in the UK during a period of 18 months. It found that the number of searches for videos featuring the sexual exploitation of children fell and that in 82% of online sessions 1 warning from the chatbot was enough to deter users from continuing their searches for child pornography. The number of calls to helplines also increased.
Coaching programme
The Flemish version of the chatbot refers those that seek films featuring the sexual abuse of children to organisations that offer professional help and to the Stop It Now! helpline. The chatbot went online last week on PornHub for users in Flanders.
Ms Van Puyvelde says that “The statistics show that we have already reached hundreds of people during the first week. Whether we were able to refer them to the helpline is not yet clear.”
Stop It Now! Flanders was set up to prevent child sexual abuse and provide support to people who have concerns about sexual urges and sexually inappropriate behaviour towards minors. It also offers an anonymous online coaching programme and a self-help module.