Edit - This is a post to the meta group of Blåhaj Lemmy. It is not intended for the entire lemmyverse. If you are not on Blåhaj Lemmy and plan on dropping in to offer your opinion on how we are doing things in a way you don't agree with, your post will be removed.
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A user on our instance reported a post on lemmynsfw as CSAM. Upon seeing the post, I looked at the community it was part of, and immediately purged all traces of that community from our instance.
I approached the admins of lemmynsfw and they assured me that the models with content in the community were all verified as being over 18. The fact that the community is explicitly focused on making the models appear as if they're not 18 was fine with them. The fact that both myself and one a member of this instance assumed it was CSAM, was fine with them. I was in fact told that I was body shaming.
I'm sorry for the lack of warning, but a community skirting the line trying to look like CSAM isn't a line I'm willing to walk. I have defederated lemmynsfw and won't be reinstating it whilst that community is active.
I could see an argument that, while when all people involved are truly verified to be adults there might not be anything legally wrong and the morality is at least not completely settled as being wrong, the existence of such a community would tend to, on average, attract an audience of people who desire material in which the actors do not merely appear underage. As having such people around doesn't make for a particularly safe community, blocking a space that might attract them makes some sense, even if the space itself doesn't cross the line into illegality.
Exactly this
I don’t really agree with that idea though. Despite the fact that the community in question didn’t really have anything that looked underage, the idea that pedophiles are going to swarm and start asking for legit CSAM seems misguided.
Firstly, pedophiles would be no more attracted to a grown adult who looks young, than a person attracted to short people would be attracted to someone who is standing on their knees.
And secondly, there are steps that do get taken, and have already been taken before, on lemmynsfw to address legitimate instances of CSAM and communities asking for or sharing it.
That last part seems to put the entire concern to rest, doesn’t it?