Chilling film holds online platforms accountable in fight against child abuse
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) and agency partner No Fixed Address have released a hard-to-watch and chilling video that brings to light the many hurdles that child abuse survivors must face every day.
‘Unwanted Followers’ by No Fixed Address
‘Unwanted Followers’ tells the disturbing story of a young girl who is abused throughout her childhood by an older man. Throughout the video, viewers get a real sense of the girl’s trauma and decades of struggle to escape the torment. It’s a grueling watch, but delivers an important message.
According to the organization, the rapid growth of social media platforms has made the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) easier than ever, resulting in the need for governments and the public to demand change from the big tech firms.
“Survivors don’t simply get over childhood sexual assault and the recording of their abuse. They live with it their entire lives. When tech fails to remove the abusive images/videos, these crimes aren’t just memories – they can remain online for years,” said Trent Thompson, vice-president, creative director, No Fixed Address.
“Haunted by the visual of survivors unable to escape their torment, we aimed to create a small glimpse into their experience for the viewers to have a better understanding and rally together to demand change.”
Prior to public release, the film was aired at the G7 Summit in London as a call to action for world leaders to hold tech industry leaders accountable in the fight against CSAM.
“The initial hands-on child sexual abuse was indescribable. The continued distribution of its recording is intolerable. It is for this exact reason we created Project Arachnid,” added Lianna McDonald, executive director of C3P.
“For decades, tech’s response has been woefully inadequate and through our work with No Fixed Address we aim to demand more to protect our children and future generations online.”
