Op-ed: Livestreaming Platforms Must Demonstrate Their Safety Measures’ Effectiveness
This op-ed – authored by CDT’s Dhanaraj Thakur – first appeared in Tech Policy Press on November 18, 2025. A portion of the text has been pasted below.
In the conversation about keeping children safe online, one heart-rending problem stands out: child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) on livestreaming platforms, which persists around the globe. In October, a German man was charged on hundreds of counts for pushing children in various countries to harm themselves on video and create pornographic content. Earlier this year, a UK man was convicted of arranging livestreamed sexual abuse of children. And last year, a Florida man and his girlfriend and son were arrested for allegedly sexually abusing children on livestreaming sites, earning money from anonymous predators who paid to watch. The case’s appalled judge spoke out, saying, “For the past 25 years, I’ve seen just about everything, so to shock the court’s conscience is frankly a difficult proposition at this point in the court’s career.”
These stories of horrific and illegal activities are unfortunately not unique, and are playing out across popular livestreaming platforms, where users — and particularly young people — gather online to generate and share content about gaming, sports, politics, music, and more. Perpetrators also use livestreaming services to groom or sextort children, or pay children directly or others to perform sexual acts with children live.
As a parent, the prevalence of CSEA on popular livestreaming platforms is alarming. As a researcher, I know livestreaming services are making efforts to combat CSEA on their platforms. While some measures sound promising, platforms should also do more to demonstrate whether those efforts are working.
