Like the “war on drugs” or the “war on terror”, a “war on child abuse” has too often been used to justify authoritarian overreach. Governments across the world are expanding surveillance, weakening encryption, and curtailing freedoms under the guise of staunching the proliferation of sexual images and videos of children – but these measures don’t actually solve the problem.
In Europe, the latest proposal for a “chat control” regulation put forward by the Danish presidency would require every internet-connected device to include government spyware, as easy to activate as Alexa or Siri. It would scan not only for known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) but also, in practice, would flag artwork, fan fiction, family photos and chats, relying on unreliable AI classifiers – which scientists warn can’t be implemented safely.
In the UK, Apple faced legal action earlier this year after refusing to build a secret government backdoor into its devices, while the secure chat app Signal has indicated it would rather exit from the UK than comply with the government’s demand to weaken encryption. Globally, laws like the UK’s Online Safety Act, Australia’s under-16 social media ban, and an increasing number of US state laws are mandating age verification not just for porn sites, but also for platforms like Reddit and Discord. The result is the over-censorship of legal content as “harmful to minors”, or platforms like Bluesky shutting off service altogether in certain states.
These restrictions are driving users underground. Since these laws took effect, virtual private network (VPN) usage has soaredas has usage of the privacy-centric Tor browser, which reached its highest level ever this year – nearly 20 million daily users, six times its long-term average. This surge is a warning sign. Tor was created by the US navy to counter authoritarian regimes when the “open Internet” was official US policy. Now, as western democracies restrict free communication online, they’re becoming the authoritarians Tor was designed to circumvent, while the Tor network becomes the new “open Internet”.
Tor’s new popularity brings misguided calls to hobble it
In response to Tor’s growing popularity come proposals to defund or backdoor the browser to curb its misuse for CSAM distribution. But Tor’s entire value lies in its resistance to government surveillance. Backdooring it would destroy its core function. With that said, a massive expansion of Tor’s user base is not a net win for children, as it will only expand the underground market for illegal content.
The alternative is for governments to step back. Allow anonymous internet use of mainstream platforms instead of driving new users to Tor. Let platforms continue the voluntary scanning they already do for real CSAM, without expanding mandates into artwork, fiction or consensual adult content. Recognize that keeping children safe online is ultimately a parental responsibility, not a pretext for Big Brother surveillance.
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This does not mean being soft on child abuse. On the contrary, prevention requires privacy. Survivors need confidential support services. Potential perpetrators need discreet help before they offend. Research shows about half of those seeking out CSAM on Tor are looking for help to stop – yet three-quarters cannot access it. Meanwhile, while billions flow into surveillance tech, prevention and harm-reduction programs such as the UK’s Safer Living Foundation are losing funding and shutting down.
We can also better help children by using enforcement resources more effectively. Authorities have deprioritized fighting in-person crimes for an expanding category of image offences. This has diverted child protection resources into arrests over fiction and artwork, ensnaring LGBTQ+ people and teenagers more often than abusers. In research that my organization is conductingwe have found that authorities don’t even distinguish between real abuse and fantasy material in statistics. Refocusing on actual abuse is the least that children deserve.
By adopting a more balanced and rights-respecting approach, privacy tools such as Tor can remain as specialized instruments rather than becoming essential apps for ordinary internet users. Inevitably, there will still be some child abusers that misuse that freedom, and police can and should still pursue them, as they already do.
Accepting that human rights set firm and legitimate boundaries on police power is not minimizing or normalizing abuse. The more governments push against this, the more they become the authoritarians that Tor was set up to guard against, and the more essential such tools become. Surveillance cameras in every bedroom and spy software on every computer are authoritarian nightmares, not democratic ideals.
