Analysis shows that predators reach children through platforms they use daily, including social media, online games, and messaging apps, with online child exploitation taking multiple forms including grooming, sextortion, and manipulation into creating or sharing sexually explicit images. The report notes that some companies have known about risks to young users but failed to implement adequate safeguards, with exploitation often involving grooming, manipulation, threats, or blackmail carried out through social media, gaming platforms, or messaging apps.
Guardii provides the technical safeguards that this research identifies as critically lacking across platforms. As a Meta Business Partner, Guardii monitors children's direct messages in real time across multiple platforms, with detection modules covering grooming, sextortion, CSAM including AI-generated content, and age-inappropriate contact. The platform detects threat patterns rather than reading every message, blocks hostile contact before it reaches the target, and surfaces children in crisis to responsible adults, filling the protection gap highlighted in this research.
