WhatsApp: groups leave child pornography images with impunity

According to the report of two Israeli NGOs, quoted by our colleagues TechCrunchthird-party apps use WhatsApp groups to chat child pornography images. After review, TechCrunch ensures that the offending groups are still active unfortunately.

WhatsApp groups share child pornography, accuse two NGOs

The report specifically points the finger groups imported by third-party app “Group Links For Whats” by Lisa Studio. In practice, child pornography groups don’t even bother to hide their real content. So we discover headlines like “child porn xvideos” or “ad-free child porn only”.

In other cases, those who do child pornography simply express their intentions. “cp” abbreviation for “child pornography”reports AntiToxin, an initiative that fights against the exploitation of minors. Despite this surprising transparency, WhatsApp still hasn’t banned the groups in question. A total of 1,300 child pornography images and videos are currently circulating with impunity on the messaging app through a dozen groups.

According to the NGO report, WhatsApp does not employ enough human moderators to manage a community of 1.5 billion active users worldwide. Semi-independent WhatsApp from parent company Facebook does not count 300+ employees dedicated to content control. For comparison, Facebook recently went from 10,000 to 20,000 moderators. NGOs, with more resources, the company could easily detect the existence of these sharing groups. Contacted by TechCrunch, WhatsApp still says it banned 130,000 accounts in 10 days.

“WhatsApp has a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse. We use our most advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, to digitize photos and profile pictures in flagged content and actively ban accounts suspected of sharing such content. We also respond to requests from law enforcement around the world and immediately report any abuse to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.” provides courier service.