The majority of new CSAM being posted on the internet is self-produced. In some cases, this is because kids have been groomed into sharing content with an abuser. However, more often than not, it's a kid selling content to help their family make ends meet. If you want to stop the spread of CSAM, make sure every family has enough to afford basic needs.
@elliot how'd you find that out? just asking cause i'd love to show other people
@babygalaxygrowing this demonstrates that it's a majority of what's reported to organizations tasked with analyzing and alerting law enforcement of it, and a lot of what they analyze is new content
https://annualreport2022.iwf.org.uk/trends-and-data/self-generated-csam/
I'll keep looking to see if I can find anything that more accurately reflects new content rather than new reports
@babygalaxygrowing as for how I know it's for money, unfortunately that's mostly direct encounters. I've interviewed people who sold nudes as a kid, I have at least one friend who did it until recently (despite my urging them to stop), and I was approached by one kid on Twitter who tried to sell me images to fund their substance abuse issues.
The issue extends beyond images - kids who sell sex are also often doing it out of financial need. This photography project contains (obviously legal) images of kids who sell sex in Thailand and each has a description that includes information about why they do it. The associated short documentary was my first exposure to this issue and what got me interested in raising awareness about it.
https://www.ohmphotography.com/underage