Fortunato Di Noto: "Vigilance and action; we owe it to the children".Eduardo Verástegui:Child trafficking starts with pornography".In 2023 there were more than five thousand active links on the Internet that directed the user to pornographic content. This is indicated by the report published by the association "Meter", founded by the priest Fortunato di Noto in Italy.
This organization wants to fight for the dignity of the children and adolescents around the world. To this end, they offer various services, such as training programs and psychological assistance. They also publish an annual report with relevant data on sexual crimes committed against children and adolescents.
The document for 2023 shows that the numbers of these crimes are increasing. According to "Meter", in 2023 they detected 2,110,585 photographs with pornographic content. This figure represents an increase compared to 1,983,679 images in 2022. The number of videos detected was 269,855 fewer than in 2022. The number of links has also decreased. However, the report shows that groups on social networks dedicated to sharing pornographic content have increased.
Main countries
"Meter" ranks the United States as the country with the highest number of links leading to pornographic content. This is followed by the Philippines and Montenegro. In addition, the most frequently used domain is ".com", with more than four thousand links.
The report also points out the geolocation of the servers of this content, i.e. the countries where the companies that allow storing and distributing the images are located. The continent with the most servers used for this purpose is America, which hosts 84.50 % of the total, followed by Europe. According to "Meter", "this figure is interesting because it allows us to understand the underlying economic mechanism: the richest continents turn out to be the 'masters of the network', service providers that cyber pedophiles use for their criminal traffic".
Victims
Fortunato di Noto's association also classifies the content it reports by age group. Their report shows that they found 556 pornographic images (adding videos and photographs) of children between 0 and 2 years old. Of children between 3 and 7 years old, 551,374 were reported. And of children between 8 and 12 years old, they discovered 2,208,118.
The data provided by the Italian organization also show that in 2023 the number of cases of abuse towards people with disabilities increased, as well as the number of mothers who sexually abuse their children, record it and upload it online.
Activity of the "Meter" association
The "Meter" association does not limit itself to providing this information on pornography, but also collaborates with institutions around the world to fight for the dignity and protection of minors. They have institutional relations with the European Parliament, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and Italian and foreign dioceses, among others.
In turn, Fortunato di Noto's organization accompanies children who have been victims of abuse and collaborates with the police in operations to stop the trafficking of pornographic content.
On the other hand, "Meter" also advises people who accompany children after suffering sexual abuse, encouraging them to create a climate of trust with them and not to limit themselves to treating only the wounds caused by sexual violence. The association's experts warn of the other consequences that abuse can have on minors, such as shame, the stress of appearing in court if a complaint is filed, or the inability to adequately communicate their experience.
