Pro-Trump Social Media Platform Isn’t Flagging Child Porn Photos

A pro-Trump social media platform is not flagging photos and posts depicting child pornography, according to a new report.

A new study conducted by the Standford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center found that Gettr, a platform launched by Donald Trump’s former spokesman Jason Miller, has “very few mechanisms to detect spam, violent content, and child exploitation imagery.”

The study’s researchers used PhotoDNA, a photo-moderation database, to flag at least 16 images on Gettr that depicted child pornography. They re-uploaded the photos back to the social media platform. However, the images weren’t flagged before being posted, which means Gettr relies on user-based moderation.

“Gettr instead appears to be relying on a community reporting model, which has not proved sufficient,” the researchers wrote in the report.

User-based moderation systems mean a photo or post should be reported by the platform’s users themselves before it could be flagged as offensive content by Gettr moderators.

"An entirely community-based detection mechanism for sensitive and illegal content is extremely limited and prone to abuse, as such posts and comments may not be seen by users inclined to report them," the researchers said, according to the Business Insider.

In early August, a review conducted by POLITICO found that the social network had features of terrorist propaganda materials, including graphic videos of beheadings and memes of militants executing Trump.

The review found that there were at least 250 Gettr accounts that regularly posted jihadi material on the platform since early June. Most also used hashtags to promote violent materials.

While some have since been taken down from the platform, many still remain. According to the platform’s terms of service, any content depicting terrorism may be removed by moderators.

“This may include content identified as personal bullying, sexual abuse of a child, attacking any religion or race, or content containing video or depictions of beheading,” one clause read.

Gettr had also been the victim of hacking during its July 4 launch. Many of the platform’s most popular verified users, including Mike Pompeo, Steve Bannon, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, and Newsmax had their accounts compromised.

Alon Gal, the co-founder of cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock, said threat actors scrapped the usernames, names, and birthdays of more than 85,000 Gettr users through its API, as reported by Tech Crunch.