AI-Generated and Stolen Child Sexual Abuse Material Proliferates on TikTok
French police warned of a growing phenomenon on TikTok where accounts use coded emojis to share sexual images of minors, some reportedly generated by AI, exploiting a coded language known to pedophile networks.
What happened
French National Police issued public alerts on 26 March 2025 warning of a proliferation of child sexual abuse material on TikTok. Dozens of accounts use emojis, particularly pizza symbols, in their usernames to share sexual images of minors, some of which are reportedly generated by artificial intelligence.
Reported impact
Police indicated they had received numerous reports regarding this phenomenon, describing it as disturbing and a matter of concern given TikTok's popularity among young people.
Index analysis
The pizza emoji serves as coded language within pedophile networks, derived from the abbreviation 'cheese pizza' (CP) matching 'child porn'. Australian federal police had previously warned about the use of emojis as coded language in such networks in January 2025.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.