Stanford Internet Observatory raises alarm over 'serious failings with the child protection systems at Twitter'
(2023/06/06)
- Reference: 1686027726
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/06/06/stanford_internet_observatory_csam/
- Source link:
Twitter failed to take down numerous images of child sexual abuse material posted on its platform over two months, researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory will allege in an upcoming report.
The academic group [1]said it was looking at the wider issue of child exploitation online when it "discovered serious failings with the child protection systems at Twitter."
Using the Elon Musk-owned social media company's API, researchers studied the metadata in tweets and parsed the URLs of images to scan for pictures depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), employing a tool called PhotoDNA developed by Microsoft.
[2]
Algorithms converted suspected CSAM images into hash values, which were then compared against a known database stored by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) representing known illegal images of minors. A hash value match suggests that the photo posted on Twitter matches a known CSAM image from the database.
[3]
[4]
Hash values allow those called on to analyze CSAM to do so without having to actually view or unlawfully store the images.
[5]Yaccarino takes wheel at Twitter early as advertising woes become public
[6]Elon Musk hit with insider trading claims over his Dogecoin crypto-hype
[7]Twitter loses second head of Trust and Safety under Musk
[8]Twitter now worth just a third of what Musk paid for it
Daniel Thiel, chief technologist at the Stanford Internet Observatory and co-author of the report, [9]told The Wall Street Journal researchers detected 40 hash matches in 100,000 or so tweets from March 12 to May 20. The academic group said it reported the issue to the NCMEC in April, but the images weren't removed until May 20.
"Having no remaining Trust and Safety contacts at Twitter, we approached a third-party intermediary to arrange a briefing. Twitter was informed of the problem, and the issue appears to have been resolved as of May 20," the Observatory [10]stated on Twitter.
"Twitter is by no means the only platform dealing with CSAM, nor are they the primary focus of our upcoming report. Regardless, we're glad to have contributed to improving child safety on Twitter, and thank them for their help in remediating this issue," the org [11]added .
[12]
Under Elon Musk's ownership, Twitter increased prices to access its API. A leaked slide deck [13]previously suggested prices starting at $42,000 per month.
Stanford Internet Observatory's Thiel criticized Twitter for raising prices, and said doing so makes it more difficult for academics to study the platform and hold it accountable.
The Observatory relied on Twitter's API for its investigation, and had previously negotiated a deal to use the tool for free – but has stopped using the enterprise-level tier as of last week due to cost concerns, Thiel said.
[14]
A spokesperson from the Stanford Internet Observatory told The Register : "It is no longer possible to conduct a study like this using Twitter's API. The level of access needed for academic studies is no longer affordable and researchers are required to delete the data they previously collected under academic data access agreements."
In March 2023, Twitter's developer team [15]stated it was working to try and help academics, who need to make a high volume of API requests for their research, access its software. They also said that academics could use its free or basic tiers. The spokesperson, however, said Twitter has not come up with an alternative solution for researchers and the lowest tier package costing $42,000 per month offers less data than was previously available to some academics for free.
Meanwhile, the free tier reportedly provides "read-only" access, and doesn't have the flexibility required to support academic research.
Twitter did not respond to The Register's request for comment. Indeed, the press@twitter.com email address still auto-responds with nothing but a poop emoji. ®
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[1] https://twitter.com/stanfordio/status/1665724958817890309
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/05/yaccarino_takes_twitter_helm_early/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/elon_musk_dogecoin_insider_trading/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/twitter_head_of_safety_quits/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/twitter_value_decline/
[9] https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-missed-dozens-of-known-images-of-child-sexual-abuse-material-researchers-say-58d44f7b
[10] https://twitter.com/stanfordio/status/1665724965407055872
[11] https://twitter.com/stanfordio/status/1665724967042809865
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/03/twitter_api_public_service/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1641222788911624192
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The academic group [1]said it was looking at the wider issue of child exploitation online when it "discovered serious failings with the child protection systems at Twitter."
Using the Elon Musk-owned social media company's API, researchers studied the metadata in tweets and parsed the URLs of images to scan for pictures depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), employing a tool called PhotoDNA developed by Microsoft.
[2]
Algorithms converted suspected CSAM images into hash values, which were then compared against a known database stored by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) representing known illegal images of minors. A hash value match suggests that the photo posted on Twitter matches a known CSAM image from the database.
[3]
[4]
Hash values allow those called on to analyze CSAM to do so without having to actually view or unlawfully store the images.
[5]Yaccarino takes wheel at Twitter early as advertising woes become public
[6]Elon Musk hit with insider trading claims over his Dogecoin crypto-hype
[7]Twitter loses second head of Trust and Safety under Musk
[8]Twitter now worth just a third of what Musk paid for it
Daniel Thiel, chief technologist at the Stanford Internet Observatory and co-author of the report, [9]told The Wall Street Journal researchers detected 40 hash matches in 100,000 or so tweets from March 12 to May 20. The academic group said it reported the issue to the NCMEC in April, but the images weren't removed until May 20.
"Having no remaining Trust and Safety contacts at Twitter, we approached a third-party intermediary to arrange a briefing. Twitter was informed of the problem, and the issue appears to have been resolved as of May 20," the Observatory [10]stated on Twitter.
"Twitter is by no means the only platform dealing with CSAM, nor are they the primary focus of our upcoming report. Regardless, we're glad to have contributed to improving child safety on Twitter, and thank them for their help in remediating this issue," the org [11]added .
[12]
Under Elon Musk's ownership, Twitter increased prices to access its API. A leaked slide deck [13]previously suggested prices starting at $42,000 per month.
Stanford Internet Observatory's Thiel criticized Twitter for raising prices, and said doing so makes it more difficult for academics to study the platform and hold it accountable.
The Observatory relied on Twitter's API for its investigation, and had previously negotiated a deal to use the tool for free – but has stopped using the enterprise-level tier as of last week due to cost concerns, Thiel said.
[14]
A spokesperson from the Stanford Internet Observatory told The Register : "It is no longer possible to conduct a study like this using Twitter's API. The level of access needed for academic studies is no longer affordable and researchers are required to delete the data they previously collected under academic data access agreements."
In March 2023, Twitter's developer team [15]stated it was working to try and help academics, who need to make a high volume of API requests for their research, access its software. They also said that academics could use its free or basic tiers. The spokesperson, however, said Twitter has not come up with an alternative solution for researchers and the lowest tier package costing $42,000 per month offers less data than was previously available to some academics for free.
Meanwhile, the free tier reportedly provides "read-only" access, and doesn't have the flexibility required to support academic research.
Twitter did not respond to The Register's request for comment. Indeed, the press@twitter.com email address still auto-responds with nothing but a poop emoji. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/stanfordio/status/1665724958817890309
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/05/yaccarino_takes_twitter_helm_early/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/elon_musk_dogecoin_insider_trading/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/twitter_head_of_safety_quits/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/twitter_value_decline/
[9] https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-missed-dozens-of-known-images-of-child-sexual-abuse-material-researchers-say-58d44f7b
[10] https://twitter.com/stanfordio/status/1665724965407055872
[11] https://twitter.com/stanfordio/status/1665724967042809865
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/03/twitter_api_public_service/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZH8Dw0UpqVDfiFj3aC15BAAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://twitter.com/TwitterDev/status/1641222788911624192
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Anonymous Coward
And also what is the false positive ratio with this Microsoft hashing algorithm?
tiggity
@AC - indeed, false positives occur and relevant to this article, especially as (for many obvious reasons) they do not want to view the hash matched images.
Not sure about how many hashes CSAM uses, but that's also relevant.
.. and lets not even get started on false positive paradoxes.
But obviously, by nature of the potential content, this area difficult to assess for researchers - I hope they did pass on details of the images to those in law enforcement who are legally able to assess such images (vile job to have) and prosecute if genuine nasties found.
Anonymous Coward
867,000,000 / 100,000 * 40 = 346,800
Twitter published about ~ 867 million tweets daily.
Problem: researchers find too many child abuse posts
Neil Barnes
Solution: make access too expensive so they can't...
As if Musk cares
Pascal Monett
So the lowest tier is $42K ? Guess what, he already doesn't pay his bills and he's not known for doing favors.
Twitter is dead. Leave it to rot.
Re: As if Musk cares
Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells
You know this definitely pre-dates Musk, right?
And you know that pre-Musk, Twitter was brazenly engaging in election interference.
Just because they were covering for "your side" doesn't make it good.
The subhead says: "Researchers find 100,000 accounts spamming child abuse material"
I don't see that supported in the article or in the links - they only seem to have checked 100,000 tweets and found 40 dodgy image hash matches. Still far too many, of course.