Be careful for pizza-emoji on TIKTOK: Pedophiles use a symbol in the search for images of child abuse
Research shows that pedophiles use the pizza-emoji on Tiktok to identify themselves in a cryptic way as such. – © AFP
Caution is required when you see the emoji of a piece of pizza popping up on social media: research by the French television channel TF1 shows that pedophiles use the symbol on Tiktok to identify themselves in a cryptic way as such.
TF1 investigated after the French police spread a video in which she warns of « a worrying phenomenon on Tiktok: accounts with a pizza-emoji in their username that spread images of minor girls, sometimes in suggestive poses ».
The use of the emoji is no coincidence: the piece of pizza with cheese has in English – cheese pizza – the same initial letters as Child porn, Or child pornography. TF1 journalist Mathis Fleuret found « dozens and dozens » accounts with the EMOji in question, a profile photo of young children and descriptions that leave little to the imagination. « I have all kinds of children’s films, from 1 to 16 years old, » wrote a user. « Contact me via Telegram for more naughty children’s films, » wrote another. « We just scrolled on, but it just didn’t stop, » said Fleuret.
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Other price
Those who wanted access to the images of child abuse were often sent to the encrypted messaging service Telegram. There the pedophiles were given the choice of different types of images, for a different price each. TF1 mentions « Photos and videos of fathers and daughters for 40 dollars, rapes for 50 dollars and brutal videos for 100 dollars ». « From the sixth account we approached, we received screenshots of children’s porn movies, as if they wanted to encourage us to buy them, » says Fleuret. « It is frightening how quickly you can find this kind of content on social media. »
« From the sixth account we approached, we received screenshots from children’s porn movies, as if they wanted to encourage us to buy them »
Mathis Fleuret
TF1 journalist
TF1 indicated all suspicious accounts to the competent authorities, which apparently received hundreds of reports about the pizza emoji in recent months. The journalists also contacted Tiktok himself, which immediately responded by taking the indicated profiles offline. Anyone who now enters the letters ‘CP’, whether or not with a space between or accompanied by a pizza-emoji in the search bar of Tiktok, gets a warning message in the picture: “This text can be associated with behavior or content that scores our guidelines. Promoting a safe and positive experience is the top priority of Tiktok.
