Shared Links (weekly) Mar. 23, 2025
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The Commission report is, obviously, based on what was found in the UK. I have little doubt that similar realities exist in just about every country. And, just about every country can look not just at this overview, but also some of the more detailed information and recommendations from the PDF and find relevant information.
To be honest, this overview sounds a lot like what I’ve read from various sources about the US system as well, and it’s about time we started thinking about what support for mental health looks like in our own communities.
As the article explains, there is no federal law against this in the US. There are some state laws, but they’re not very effective. The problem is that we’ve always treated sexual abuse materials as criminal because, as the saying goes, behind every photo is a child being abused. With deepfakes, though, the abuse isn’t happening. So when a teen girl is the subject of deepfake porn, she was never sexually assaulted, so there’s no crime.
There’s a lot of harm, though. In the case of a celebrity, it might be reputational harm. In the case of teenagers, that fake can turn into blackmail, bullying, and all the mental health issues that go along with that. (The same is true of adults, but we know how vulnerable teens are to this and how this too often ends.)
This is as true for those of us dealing with mental health, or abuse recovery as well. The healing process gets completely disrupted when we are n’t dealing with stress. “Life throws us many uncontrollable stressful situations. Social conflicts, finances, finding a new job, and worrying about health can be a fork in the road…
This is true for trafficking, and it’s true for child sexual abuse, and it’s true for a variety of other ways in which people might try to take advantage of someone. People with poor mental health, poor connections to other people, and living in chaotic situations are more vulnerable. The best tool to prevent these things is to work on having fewer vulnerable people.
Mental health resources could go a long way.
The War on Suicide Is Making Things Worse– An interesting look at how forcible committing someone might make things worse.