Behind a locked door. In the dark. Alone – with thousands of potential victims a few clicks away. The police may eventually knock on the door, but admit that a serious injury may have occurred before they find out. The scale is increasing, but how can it be stopped? In a new report, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, police investigators, therapists and abusers themselves explain what happens – and why. The case in summary A new report shows a frightening increase in digital abuse against children on the dark web. The abusers often operate undisturbed for a long time and can come into contact with several hundred victims before they are stopped. The abuse takes place online, but is equated with physical abuse. The abusers are a heterogeneous group, but there are clearly most men, and very few women, among them. Professionals see a new development where children and young people produce sexual material by themselves to sell it to adults. According to the investigators, the abusers are very calculated and manage to single out “simple victims”, often socially insecure and lonely children. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. One of the answers is: “Because I can”. And because it is “so simple”. – There has been a great development. There is going to be a bigger development. It gets rougher, harder and colder, says a police investigator in the report. The playground has been replaced by digital platforms, such as Roblox. Abusers find their victims online. Photo: Phil Noble / Scanpix A tenfold increase The report has been produced in collaboration between the National Knowledge Center on Violence and Traumatic Stress (NKVTS) and the Welfare Institute Nova at Oslo Met. Their sources speak of a tenfold increase in the last decade. There are more cases, they are larger in scope, and the content is coarser. “Very active offenders have often been allowed to operate undisturbed for a long time, so that they have had time to come into contact with up to several hundred victims before they are stopped,” the report states. There is no beginning and no end on the internet, and therefore it is an endless, dark matter that the investigators delve into. – If you go to the dark web, there is already high quality child abuse material on such a large scale that if you start at one end, play everything, then you’re not through until you’re dead, he says. The researchers have created a typology of who commits digital sexual abuse against children. These are the seven “types”: – A danger to society Before Christmas, a man in his 30s was convicted of online assault against 52 children. During the trial in Buskerud District Court, he was described as a danger to society. The man pretended to be an underage girl. The assaults took place online, but digital assaults are equated with physical assaults – and he was sentenced to 15 years in custody. He pretended to be an underage girl, who performed sexual acts on himself. He made the children do sexual acts back. The man took screenshots and saved the videos. – Like a bomb pilot To find out how the online rapists can persist for so long, the researchers have spoken to several convicts. Some have stuck to digital sexual offences, while others have also committed physical abuse. – This is not dangerous for anyone. I don’t do anything the child doesn’t want himself. The child is just exploring, and I’m just helping him along the way, said one man. Both the police and the researchers stress that on the other side of the screen, children can be ruined for life. The damaging effects are described as quite similar to those of physical abuse. Researcher Per Moum Hellevik tells of major damage among the victims. Photo: Kristoffer Sandven / NKVTS – We see that children and young people who are exposed to digital sexual abuse can experience being blamed for what has happened. Victims of digital sexual abuse are never to blame for this. The responsibility for the abuse always lies with the athlete, says researcher and project leader Per Moum Hellevik. It is a heterogeneous group: Many have or have had a boyfriend, partner or spouse. Some also have children of their own. But an important dimension is gender – there are clearly most men, and very few women among the abusers. Someone who has been convicted of both physical and digital abuse explains the difference in the two arenas as follows: – I have often felt that what I did online was a bit like what a bomber pilot feels when he drops a bomb. He flies on, not seeing the destruction he has done. I’ve sat behind a screen, and then I’ve done different things, and made the victims do things for me. And then I kind of flew on. Sadistic content The police investigators see an increase in material that is more limitless and transgressive, and that this has become more “mainstream”. The scope of the content and the size of this group is increasing. – There has been a shocking development in this area in the last ten years. Ten years ago we were worried about what has become standard today, says an experienced investigator in the report. The threshold is raised, on both sides of the screen. – There was a hierarchy within pedophilia. During the ten years it has disappeared. Now it’s free game. It has gotten rougher. There have been larger quantities. It has become more common and more accessible. It’s on multiple platforms, and it’s shared by younger people. Are there children? Professionals say that they see a new development in uncovering child and young people’s self-produced abuse material. They create sexual material of themselves on their mobile phone or PC, to sell it to adults for money or exchange it for gift cards or various types of currency on game sites or other digital platforms. “The problem is old, but the procedures and arenas are changing,” the report states. – Those who are interested in children sexually are where children are. Before they went to the playground, now they’re on Roblox, or somewhere else, says an investigator. A state attorney who contributed to the report says that it takes a lot to go out and physically look for a child. – On the Internet, the availability is endless. The social control is absent, and the threshold is lowered. Both for the abuser, to approach the child, but also for the child to approach the abuser. Therefore, the attackers can reach many people in a short time, and it is described as “shooting with a shotgun”. The men can send tens or hundreds of messages at once, and if only one person replies, that’s enough to establish contact. The hope of being caught One of the convicts who contributed to the report says that after the first sentence he tried to make himself as recognizable as possible, so that he would be exposed. He was caught. And convicted again. Going after the vulnerable Many of the abusers are, according to the investigators, very calculated, and after a little experience they are able to distinguish “easy victims”. This may involve socially insecure and lonely children, it may be someone who is exposed to bullying or who is socially excluded in other arenas, or children who are already exposed to violence, abuse or neglect. – Those who pick them out are very good at picking up that vulnerability, says a state attorney. One of the abusers the researchers have spoken to says that he became very good at finding children and young people on social media who were a little extra contact-seeking. – Through social media you can very often see if that person is a bit of an outsider, or if you are struggling a bit with something, he says.
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– It gets rougher, harder and colder – news Buskerud – Local news, TV and radio
