eprintid: 10195493 rev_number: 7 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/19/54/93 datestamp: 2024-08-07 08:44:47 lastmod: 2024-08-07 08:44:47 status_changed: 2024-08-07 08:44:47 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Prichard, Jeremy creators_name: Wortley, Richard creators_name: Watters, Paul creators_name: Spiranovic, Caroline creators_name: Scanlan, Joel title: The effect of therapeutic and deterrent messages on Internet users attempting to access ‘barely legal’ pornography ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: F52 keywords: Child sexual exploitation material, Situational crime prevention, Pop-ups, Warning banners, Therapeutic messages note: © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). abstract: Online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a growing problem. Prevention charities, such as Stop It Now! UK, use online messaging to dissuade users from viewing CSAM and to encourage them to consider anonymous therapeutic interventions. This experiment used a honeypot website that purported to contain barely legal pornography, which we treated as a proxy for CSAM. We examined whether warnings would dissuade males (18–30 years) from visiting the website. Participants (n = 474) who attempted to access the site were randomly allocated to one of four conditions. The control group went straight to the landing page (control; n = 100). The experimental groups encountered different warning messages: deterrence-themed with an image (D3; n = 117); therapeutic-themed (T1; n = 120); and therapeutic-themed with an image (T3; n = 137). We measured the click through to the site. Three quarters of the control group attempted to enter the pornography site, compared with 35 % to 47 % of the experimental groups. All messages were effective: D3 (odds ratio [OR] = 5.02), T1 (OR = 4.06) and T2 (OR = 3.05). Images did not enhance warning effectiveness. We argue that therapeutic and deterrent warnings are useful for CSAM-prevention. date: 2024-09 date_type: published publisher: Elsevier BV official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106955 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2303038 doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106955 lyricists_name: Wortley, Richard lyricists_id: RKWOR37 actors_name: Wortley, Richard actors_id: RKWOR37 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Child Abuse & Neglect volume: 155 article_number: 106955 issn: 0145-2134 citation: Prichard, Jeremy; Wortley, Richard; Watters, Paul; Spiranovic, Caroline; Scanlan, Joel; (2024) The effect of therapeutic and deterrent messages on Internet users attempting to access ‘barely legal’ pornography. Child Abuse & Neglect , 155 , Article 106955. 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106955 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106955>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10195493/1/Prichard%20et%20al%20therapeutic%20messages%202024.pdf