Write to us at startingpoint@globe.com. To subscribe, sign up here.
“The flood is coming.”
For three years, I’ve been traveling the country talking to child advocates, psychologists, and survivors for my forthcoming book, “An Unthinkable Crime: The Hidden History of Sexual Abuse and a New Age of Reckoning,” which builds on a 2022 Globe Magazine story I wrote about Kate Price, a woman who was sexually exploited as a child.
My book explores the history of how child sexual abuse has been systematically concealed and minimized for decades, and by early last year, I was pretty sure I was done with the reporting. Then my law enforcement sources started issuing warnings about the coming flood.
What flood? I realized all that I knew about child exploitation on the web was shifting overnight.
AI’s devastating explosion
Investigators told me they were beginning to see waves of AI-generated explicit images of children on the dark web. They said it was making it much harder for them to pinpoint instances of real-world abuse.
Indeed, a whole confluence of factors has been making it harder for law enforcement to fight online child exploitation. Today, abusers are everywhere online: on children’s laptops, their gaming systems, and the phones they carry in their pockets.
Rising dramatically — but still vastly underreported
Here in Massachusetts, State Police received more than 23,000 CyberTipline reports about child exploitation in 2025, a 77 percent increase in a single year. And experts believe that still vastly underreports the problem, because encrypted chats on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and other platforms obscure the true volume of what’s taking place online. Now artificial intelligence is making things even worse.
Last year, I began working with my colleague, investigative reporter Shelley Murphy, on a series of stories that try to illuminate what’s happening in the darkest corners of the internet. Together, we visited one of the federal government’s largest forensic laboratories fighting online child exploitation to understand how these agents do their work.
The first of those stories published today.
Prosecutors and law enforcement told us they’re hoping for more accountability from tech companies and for legislative efforts to catch up with how rapidly abuse metastasizes online.
What can you do?
In the meantime, they urge parents to be vigilant and to talk to their kids about how to protect themselves from online abuse. For advice on how to do that, visit our resource guide. Here are a few key tips:
- Use privacy settings
- Set time limits
- Make passwords long and strong
- Use avatars, not real photos, in profiles
- Only befriend people online who you know in real life
- Disable voice chats
- Keep gaming consoles and devices in a common area of your home — not in your kid’s bedroom
“You shouldn’t get your understanding of technology from what your children tell you,” Luke Goldworm, an assistant US attorney in Massachusetts, told parents recently.
“You need to educate yourself about the technologies your kids are using, the games they’re using, and know about any device or platform or game your kids are on.”
Go Deeper: A crisis in the shadows
🧩 6 Across: Sweetheart | ☂️ 63° Damp
‘Shark smart’: The first white shark sighting of the season has been confirmed off Martha’s Vineyard, and officials urge caution ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
Cambridge shooting: How did a man with a lengthy rap sheet, just three days out of a psychiatric hospital, get any gun, much less the multicaliber BCI-Defense Model FF-15? Records detail drug use, fatherhood, and money struggles.
The Green New Deal: Six years ago, the promise of cleaner, renewable energy and new jobs was at the heart of Ed Markey’s Senate campaign. Now it’s AWOL.
Patriots rookie arraigned: Linebacker Quintayvious Hutchins was arraigned yesterday in Newton District Court on a domestic assault and battery charge.
Embers: A week since a massive fire displaced 10 families in Lowell, residents “can still smell the smoke.”
Alex Murdaugh: The admitted thief, liar, insurance cheat, and bad lawyer got a break yesterday when South Carolina’s high court overturned his conviction for the death of his wife and son. But prosecutors say they will retry Murdaugh.
Remembering Jason Collins: The Celtic and NBA trailblazer “became a symbol of independence and bravery‚” the Globe’s Gary Washburn writes.
Too many A’s: “A” grades are suddenly everywhere since the arrival of ChatGPT. (WSJ)
Cruise ship woes: France confines more than 1,700 on British cruise ship in Bordeaux after gastroenteritis outbreak.
Poor Jamaica: Kari Lake is a chronic political loser in Arizona who wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars ineptly trying to wreck the Voice of America. Now she’s Trump’s pick to be ambassador of the Caribbean nation. (The Atlantic)
By David Beard
🚣♀️ Renaissance: They were thin-blooded California weather wimps who became innkeepers in Maine — and are among the B&B owners charming visitors (and Instagram) to prosper in second careers.
🌮 Tacos and more: In the Waltham space where Elephant Walk and Gustazo once blossomed rises Monarca, which Kara Baskin says serves “some of the most authentic” Mexican food around. Also, a new Whole Foods Market is opening in the Seaport.
🩰 Ballet is a killer: The ART’s “Black Swan” brings the Natalie Portman movie’s saga of dance and ambition to the stage. It’s on pointe, writes Sonia Rao.
🌴 Not in my yard! Nine things that gardeners and designers would never put around their places. (Business Insider)
🪹 First person: “I’m a single mom. Here’s why I can’t wait to be an empty nester.”
🦖 Do you wonder? Why did Tyrannosaurus rex have such short arms? This paleontologist explains. (The Conversation)
Thanks for reading Starting Point.
This newsletter was edited by David Beard and produced by Ryan Orlecki.
❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at startingpoint@globe.com.
✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can sign up for your own copy.
📬 Delivered Monday through Friday.
Janelle Nanos can be reached at janelle.nanos@globe.com. Follow her @janellenanos.
