Despite the removal of individual apps, the structure enabling digital sex crimes remains fundamentally unchanged. But you can help make a difference.

(Illustration by qnel)

The application Album Collection, in which sexual images of women and children were traded, ceased all functions on January 31, 2024. The termination of service was announced on Album Collection’s website on Dec. 31, 2023.

Album Collection began operating around 2017. Over roughly six years, it facilitated many digital sex crimes. It became a place to trade child sexual abuse images, images of women taken or shared without their consent, and hidden camera images taken in bathrooms, train stations, and other locations.

Those images continue to spread on the internet and social media; the victims cannot erase completely, no matter how many times individual posts are deleted. In one case, a victim attempted suicide.

One factor worsening the situation was that Album Collection was listed on Apple’s App Store, easily accessible to anyone. In December 2023, it was temporarily the highest-ranked app in the store’s “Photos & Videos” category — above second-ranked Instagram and fourth-ranked YouTube.

It was this investigative reporting series, which began in November 2022, that brought an end to Album Collection. In addition to reporting the harm being caused, I worked with white-hat hackers to identify the app operator. After I emailed our findings and questions to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple withdrew Album Collection from its App Store.

However, the problem of digital sex crimes does not end there. Users have simply moved to similar apps, where they continue to exchange sexual images.

I will continue my reporting to help stop the harm being caused. If you or your loved ones have been a victim of digital sex abuses, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Continuing the harm on another app

First, allow me to explain what has happened so far.

Around the time Album Collection announced its closure last year, I found another application where perpetrators were posting images: Capsule Share.

Capsule Share has been available since at least October 2022. It has a mechanism highly similar to Album Collection: Password-protected folders allow anyone who knows the password to access the images, and a paid “key” — the password — must be purchased to unlock said images.

When I accessed the app myself, I found that illegal sexual images, such as images of children and hidden-camera images, were indeed being exchanged.

Capsule Share is available in both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play, and as of Feb. 14, 2024, it ranked 58th in the App Store’s “Photo & Video” category and had been downloaded 10,000 times on Google Play.

Many sexual images are also exchanged through services such as Gigafile, which allows users to send and receive large files for free. When the perpetrators use Gigafile, money changes hands via cashless payment systems like PayPay.

Posts to X advertising videos of minors and hidden-camera images still continue.

Operator’s limited understanding

Once spread via an app or web service such as Gigafile, sexual images are uploaded and downloaded over and over, never disappearing. Their existence will continue online for the rest of the victim’s life.

I wondered what the people who run these apps and make money by providing a place to trade sexual images were thinking.

Last year, Tansa worked with two white-hat hackers to identify the person who started Album Collection. We met and interviewed him. He acknowledged that, in the course of managing and operating Album Collection, he had seen sexual abuse images of children and women.

During the two-hour interview, I asked him how he felt when he saw such images. However, his only response was “I don’t think it’s good.”

Google and Apple continue to ignore the situation

I could only assume that the person who ran Album Collection was numb to the harm his app caused.

But he is far from the only one in the wrong.

Through reporting on this issue, I have become deeply concerned that the system surrounding these individual actors has, without exception, remained disengaged.

I see no willingness on the part of major platforms, despite their responsibility to prevent digital sexual violence, or the government and police, who oversee these actors, to take digital sex crimes seriously.

In their stores, Google and Apple both listed apps, like Album Collection, in which illegal sexual images were traded.

Both Google and Apple dominate the app market in Japan. Both even proclaim the safety of their stores. However, if these harmful apps appear “normal,” the true nature of the transactions cannot be detected, even if they are illegal. They have passed both companies’ screening processes.

For example, “Video Share,” an app with the same mechanism as Album Collection, was once removed from Google Play; however, it was renamed “Video Share+” and let into Google Play once again. Only the name was slightly changed — the contents remained exactly the same, full of illegal images.

Tansa has sent multiple requests for comment to both companies, including asking them to reconsider offering these apps. However, not once did they respond to our questions.

Removal requests are not a solution

Do public organizations have any mechanisms in place that can help victims?

In the first article in this series, I recounted the experience of a victim, A. After learning that her images were being bought and sold online, she turned to the police. However, she was told that the only thing she could do was request that the images be removed.

However, the publishers of such images are not legally obligated to remove them. According to Pappus, a nonprofit that handles removal requests on behalf of victims, 30% of images remain even after a removal request is made.

And, in the first place, removing the images does not fundamentally solve the problem.

If a victim wants to deal with images that continue to be duplicated, they must monitor the internet forever. Another victim, B, and her family are never able to rest easy, as they are scour the internet and social media every day. It has already been more than four years since they became aware of what happened.。

The harm caused by digital sex crimes is taken too lightly.

What caused the change?

In the year and a half since I started this series, I have been reporting on digital sex crimes with the goal of remedying the damage and preventing similar harm from happening in the future. I have been disappointed by the fact that the same crimes continue to be repeated and the number of victims is increasing day by day.

However, I have also seen positive changes during my time reporting on this issue.

Google removed Video Share last year, and now Apple has removed Album Collection from its store. Both of these actions came shortly after Tansa reached out to Google employees and appealed to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

As mentioned above, Album Collection has completely discontinued its services.

What sparked these changes was the courage of those directly affected and their supportive families, who shared their experiences with me.

Without them, the situation would never have come to light.

That is why I have a request for anyone reading this article who may be a victim of digital sex crimes.

Please send me information about the harm caused by the spread of sexual images. In addition to the apps and tools mentioned here, I would also like to hear about digital sex crimes that occur on messaging apps. I also welcome information from those whose child or friend has fallen victim to such crimes.

If we gather enough testimonies, surely the companies and governments that have ignored the situation up to now will be forced to act.

All information received will be kept strictly confidential and managed with the utmost care and anonymity. Tansa will assist you in setting up a secure, encrypted email and other means of communication, so that the content of our correspondence cannot be seen by outside parties. If we decide to publish an article, it will be with your consent, and with your mental and physical health as our top priority.

See here for details on how to securely share information with Tansa.

“How many more kids will suffer and die because of social media?”

Even if you haven’t been directly affected, you can also help change this serious situation by learning about this issue and speaking out.

Currently, 290 people have donated a total of 2.12 million yen (about $14,700) to support this series. Thanks to these donations, we have been able to dedicate ourselves to a variety of reporting, including multiple trips outside of Japan. We have also received many messages from people who want to stop this injustice as soon as possible.

In the U.S., platforms are beginning to be held accountable, thanks to victims’ testimonies and the demands of a society that supports them.

On Jan. 31, 2024, the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee held a public hearing to protect children from sexual exploitation online, including on social media. Public hearings are used by congressional committees to gather information from experts and relevant parties in order to discuss important legislation.

This time, the Judiciary Committee heard testimonies from executives of five social media giants, including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, and Linda Yaccarino of X (formerly Twitter), as well as the CEOs of Snap, TikTok, and Discord.

A two-minute video played at the beginning of the meeting, showing testimonies of those affected by the spread of sexual images on the internet and social media, as well as their families.

“I was sexually exploited on Instagram.”

“My son Riley died from suicide after being sexually exploited on Facebook.”

“I reported this issue numerous times and it took over a decade before anyone helped me.”

“We got a phone call to find out that my son was in his room and was suicidal. He was only 13 years old at the time. Him and a friend had been exploited online and trafficked and my son reached out to Twitter. Twitter or now X’s response was, ‘Thank you for reaching out. We reviewed the content and did not find a violation of our policies, so no action will be taken at this time.’”

“How many more kids will suffer and die because of social media?”

A mother says her son was sexually exploited on Facebook and committed suicide (from CBS NEWS YouTube channel)

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee told Meta’s Zuckerberg he has “blood on his hands”

“Online child sexual exploitation is a crisis in America,” said Rep. Dick Durbin, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, after the video finished.

This disturbing growth in child sexual exploitation is driven by one thing : changes in technology.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Zuckerberg, “I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands.”

“You have a product that’s killing people.”

Applause filled the room.

Parents of children who have committed suicide or suffered harm as a result of digital sex crimes also attended the hearing. Currently, in the U.S., parents and state governments have brought a number of lawsuits against social media companies over the sexual exploitation of children and harm to their mental health on their platforms.

However, Zuckerberg said he has not even provided compensation for the victims. Hearing this, Republican Congressman Josh Hawley followed with: “Let me ask you this. There are families of victims here today. Have you apologized to the victims? Would you like to do so now they’re here? You’re on national television. Would you like now to apologize to the victims who have been harmed by your product?”

Zuckerberg seemed at a loss for words, but he looked behind him to where the families were holding pictures of their children.

“I’m sorry. Everything that you all gone through, it’s terrible,” he said.

Mark Zuckerberg, center, apologizes to families holding photos of children who died as a result of digital sex crimes (from CBS News’ YouTube channel).

Another member of the committee, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, noted that, unlike in other industries, companies operating online platforms have escaped responsibility for the serious harm they cause. She compared the harm caused by digital sex crimes to the January 2024 incident in which an emergency exit door blew off a Boeing plane mid-flight.

“When a Boeing plane lost a door in mid-flight several weeks ago, nobody questioned the decision to ground a fleet of over 700 planes. So why aren’t we taking the same type of decisive action on the danger of these platforms when we know these kids are dying?” she questioned.

I think her argument is reasonable. In terms of putting lives at risk, plane accidents and digital sexual exploitation are equally serious.

Tansa will continue to investigate those who have made online sex crimes part of their business model via apps, as well as online platform giants and governments that do nothing to alleviate the situation.

Once again, I ask those impacted to help us stop the damage. Please share your experiences with Tansa, so that we can stop the harm being caused.

To be continued.

(Originally published in Japanese on Feb. 16, 2024.)

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