Social media and child sexual abuse; Ankara example

Child sexual abuse is a problem that is experienced not only in our country but also worldwide and requires an international solution. It is thought that social media applications, which have diversified and increased with new media technologies, have opened the door to this abuse and increased sexual abuse cases. In this study, answers were sought to questions such as what role social media applications play in child sexual abuse cases, whether they are effective in committing this crime, which age groups are more victimized, who is a suspect, the importance of family relationships, and how this crime progresses. In this study, 1257 files regarding Child Sexual Abuse cases belonging to the ten years between 2014-2023 in a Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Ankara were examined and 1078 files were included in the scope of the research and the findings obtained were interpreted using the chi-square test of independence analysis. In addition, in order to strengthen the findings regarding the examined files, semi-structured questions proportional to the created categories were prepared and in-depth interviews were conducted with 6 experts in their fields and the findings obtained were interpreted using the descriptive analysis technique. The aim of this study is to take precautions against the dangers that we may encounter while using social media applications, to explain the importance of media literacy education that should be given to children who are more fragile and sensitive than adults, and to raise awareness of families about the types of abuse that await children in digital environments. Keywords: Social Media, Child Sexual Abuse, Digital Violence, Media Literacy, Communication Theories