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Deletion rate for child abuse content: Federal government acts quickly!
Find out how Germany will fight against child sexual abuse on the Internet in 2023, with current deletion rates and measures.
Deletion rate for child abuse content: Federal government acts quickly!
The alarming reality of child sexual abuse should leave no one unmoved. In 2023, over 50% of content in Germany that indicated sexual abuse was removed from servers within two days. These figures, presented by Radio Herford, clearly show that the measures against such offenses are partly effective, but also that it is urgently necessary to continue the fight.
The federal government's current deletion report for 2024 refers precisely to these numbers and states that 56% of the reported content was deleted within just two days of receipt of the tip by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). “However, deleting child pornography alone is not enough; perpetrators must be prosecuted,” emphasizes Justice Minister Dr. Stefanie Hubig, as can be read on the BMJV website. The high level of commitment from security authorities and hosting providers is crucial here.
The need for IP address storage
Since 2011, the federal government has been following the principle of “deletion instead of blocking” to remove child pornography content from the internet. However, the large number of cases recorded in 2023 underscores the ongoing threat. The BKA states in a press release that 54 children and young people are victims of sexual abuse in Germany every day - often by relatives, friends or acquaintances. In this context, the Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser is calling for the introduction of an obligation to store IP addresses in order to better identify perpetrators, as reported on the BKA website.
The BKA figures are alarming: 16,375 cases of child sexual abuse were registered in 2023, an increase of 5.5% compared to the previous year. The increase in the production, distribution and possession of child and youth pornography content has more than tripled since 2019. It is also worrying that over 50% of perpetrators have a prior relationship with their victims.
Working together for more protection
Cooperation between various institutions such as the BKA, jugendschutz.net, eco e.V. and FSM e.V. is essential for the success of combating such offenses. Despite the high deletion rate of 99% for domestic providers, the rate for content hosted abroad remains shockingly low at 38.7% in one week and 84.17% after four weeks. The number of non-deleted content, which is then handed over to the Federal Center for Child and Youth Media Protection (BzKJ) for indexing, has continued to increase.
In conclusion, the problem is broader and more complex than it might initially appear. The need to act both preventively and reactively to protect children and young people from sexual violence cannot be overemphasized. Social interaction between parents, educational institutions, platform providers and the police is urgently needed to meet the challenges in the digital space.