A cybersecurity group disclosed before a Senate inquiry how artificial intelligence technology is being used to exploit children online.

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality conducted a hearing Thursday, April 3 on the alarming spike of Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and the use of chat platforms and electronic wallets.
 
Using an AI-generated photo, group Deep Web Konek showed a demonstration of an AI application "undressing" a photo material of a child.
 
"We can see here na minark 'yung damit, and then you can choose like let's say the body type and stuff, and then 'produce', and then you just have to wait for a few seconds, and then ilalabas na po 'yung picture," said John Renzhel Villamayor, the group's Director for Internal Affairs.
 
"So that shows how easy it is to use let's say emerging technologies to facilitate this kind of content po," he added.
 
Through the group's 'Operation Marya', Villamayor also demonstrated how bots are being used on messaging app Telegram on online sexual abuse and child exploitation and the difficulty to remove materials due to data encryption.
 
"It's hard to regulate po sa side nila and also regarding this po hindi po siya mate-take down hanggang wala pong nagre-report sa main side ng Telegram," he noted.
 
Based on the group's key findings, there is 'massive digital presence' of  online sexual abuse and exploitation of children with 200 gigabytes (200,000) of illicit contents found circulating online and illegal groups and channels consisting of over 400,000 members.
 
Perpetrators use coded language or keywords such as 'candies' and 'bagets' referring to children to avoid detection while groups operate in subscription-based models for access.
 
Villamayor emphasized that aside from encrypted messaging, illegal networks 'quickly regenerate' after takedowns by social media platforms, making it difficult to regulate.
 
Payments are mostly done through e-wallets via QR codes particularly GCash being the "most common"  and most accessible. Only few are using cryptocurrency.
 
The group also reported that the victims are categorized by age, nationality and abuse type, and that locally produced content is sold at a higher price than foreign content.
 
"Mas madali po siyang i-access kaya mas delikado siya ngayon," Villamayor noted.
 
'TRUSTED ADULTS'
 
Non-governmental organization International Justice Mission cited its 2020 study showing that majority of the victims are under 12 years old and facilitators are usually someone within their circle, mostly women.
 
"Unfortunately, in terms of perpetrator profile, the local traffickers selling these materials are mostly women," IJM National Director Atty. Samsom Inocencio said.
 
"Its part of the profile we've shared on like family members who are actually the ones perpetuating the crimes in their homes, trusted adults who are close to the victims," he added.
 
Majority of the consumers especially live-streaming abuse are mostly men from western countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Germany.  
 
"In fact, in some communities and some of the survivor leaders affirmed to us these illegally activities are disturbingly normalized under even euphemisms like-show or live show obscuring the horrific reality of child exploitation," he noted.
 
The group recommends to intensify criminal system efforts, strengthen local government response, and enforce FinTech accountability.
 
"This hidden nature of the crime demands proactive law enforcement and heightened community awareness," Inocencio stressed.