Stanford researchers have come to a startling realization. Mastodon, a social media network that is considered as a safer and respectable alternative to other social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, has a major issue with child abuse material.
According to the researchers, Mastodon has over 15 million active users and many of them have been found to be sharing, viewing, and downloading child abuse material. The researchers analyzed three different servers of public Mastodon instances to track the activity over a period of nine months. They found that inappropriate content related to child abuse was being shared on a regular basis.
The researchers studied over 1,000 post on the Mastodon network that was related to child abuse material and found that 87 percent of the posts were from male users. The researchers also found that the age of most users sharing this kind of inappropriate content was between 18 and 34.
This disturbing information comes after a darker side of the darker corners of the web has been exposed. It was found earlier this year that the dark web has been an unsafe and vulnerable place for sharing and accessing child abuse material. Those who have been caught sharing and downloading illegal material have been prosecuted.
Mastodon has responded to the findings by saying that they take the safety of children seriously, and they are now taking measures to try and prevent the spread of child abuse material on their platform. They are attempting to scan for material that could be related to child abuse, and they are also implementing new policies to help protect their users from such activities.
Although there are still some concerns about child abuse material on the dark web, it is encouraging to see that steps are being taken in the right direction by Mastodon and other platforms. It is important that steps are taken to protect our children, and that the internet remains a safe place for our kids.