Well, they finally did it. A federal agency finally shattered the precarious base that upholds the edifice of prosecutions for child sex abuse material (CSAM) in America. That agency is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which just entered into a deeply problematic settlement with a major online content platform for “doing little to block” CSAM and got a federal judge to approve it. On its face, the order may sound like a win. But, in fact, it will help accused offenders walk free, perversely undermining its own stated purpose.
I’m going to discuss the settlement order in a two-part series. In this post, I’ll describe what the order requires Aylo to do and explain why that’s going to create a huge headache for prosecutors in CSAM cases. In the next post, I’ll discuss why the settlement isn’t really about fighting CSAM anyway; it’s a stalking horse for the Trump FTC’s ulterior agenda, which comes straight out of Project 2025.
- Date Published:9.15.2025
- Original Publication: Techdirt