Did something actually happen on Sunday night?

It's a photo of the poster's cat entitled "The Offender."
So posting photos is possible.
Bloody Thing has started messing indoors .... ! | Mumsnet

Well yes they do, because without full information how can they make an informed decision about whether to risk staying on MN?

Knowing what happened, and how it is being addressed allows us to decide, for example, not to use the site at times when there is no active moderation.

It allows us to decide whether MNHQ have taken steps sufficient to reassure us and continue to make them money by providing content and/or browsing the site.

Let’s not forget that MN has been the target of attacks from MRAs and TRAs for years and years, motivated by an hatred of women and women talking to each other, and nothing much is ever done. I am sure the person or people posting CSAM had a similar axe to grind.

Not to mention the threads started by disgusting fetishists, looking to reel in mothers to give them wank material advice in good faith. But all traffic is good traffic, eh?

It’s all well and good saying it’s been dealt with and time to move on, because there will be a next time.

It's not news, though.

I agree it was horrific and I feel for those who inadvertently saw the images but it is a known risk to the internet and sites that allow content to be uploaded.

It doesn't happen much on smaller forums like MN but Facebook, Reddit, Insta, TicTok, etc have all had this happen multiple times.

I agree there should have been things in place to minimize the risk of this happening, but it will always be a risk.

If you've worked in content before I'm surprised you don't know the difference between a security breach and a spambot attack.

@PiggyPigalle - actually you've raised a really interesting point. You can stick a photo on a photo hosting site and link to it here, which is I suspect the picture you have seen.

@JustineMumsnet has MNHQ considered this additional risk?

I think it's a good idea for the MSM to do their job, which is to report on public interest stories. I'd say CSAM appearing on the UK's (world's?) largest parenting forum while the website was left unstaffed overnight is a massive story.

If this had happened on a video game's website, or a football team's website, they'd quite rightly be all over the news for it.

It's not the MSM's responsibility to stop people copying it, it's MumsNet's.

Lots of issues only get resolved once the media has publicised them. As someone who has worked as both a journo and in community management/safety, I find it very odd that this hasn't been reported on, seemingly anywhere!

No - photos are still blocked.
Links and GIFs are postable though

That is a GIF, not a photo, which are still not allowed.

No - you still can't post photos. What you saw was probably a link to a site, with their photo illustrating the story.

I take it photos are allowed again? Hoped it had stopped until new steps taken.
I see there's one on "The Litter Tray" posted this morning.

I won't be doing my usual sitting in bed last thing, reading posts in that case. I was doing just that until 12.30 am on Sunday, luckily saw nothing and neither do I ever want to,

You think it a good idea for the MSM to publish it, so all the loons out there copy it?

You are really not making it out to be bigger than it is. It is absolutely awful. Really seriously awful. Think you need to try and trust MN that they are dealing with it in an appropriate way and them posting lots of updates about it probably would not be appropriate. I would have thought it will be a criminal investigation.

I think all users of MN need to know that the site will be made watertight. ESPECIALLY those who would be extra triggered by such images ( given that few people could see them without being distressed / disturbed, whatever their experience)

It is very surprising to many that the MN photo filters (if they exist) did not prevent their appearance. People using the site need a clear commitment to sorting this.

MNHQ didn’t even take the most obvious action , suspending photo sharing, until over 12 hours after it started!

Asking for an official pinned communication with the users who donate their content is hardly an unreasonable request

I'm also shocked that not a single major media outlet has a story up about this yet, from what I've seen. Bizarre.

Anyway, hopefully the volunteers that had to deal with this have been offered access to counseling services.

@Frequency @Porcuporpoise Both well said! Beggars belief!

People keep bringing it up because two days later there still isn't an easily accessible statement on the subject from MN. People keep pointing to some comments buried in another thread with a completely unrelated title - which is absolutely useless to anyone who hasn't clicked on it or been pointed to it.

I'm a former community manager for a very large media firm - there's no detailed statement because MN are almost certainly in crisis management mode over this, as it's the kind of thing that will send advertisers running for the hills.

Still, a pinned, locked thread with a statement along the lines of...

"MumsNet is aware of an incident regarding illegal images being posted that occured on Sunday and are currently investigating the matter. In the meantime, images have been disabled and we will be removing all other threads on the topic to avoid speculation"

...should be the bare minimum almost two days on.

It's been dealt with and that's the end

No, it hasn't and no, it isn't.

This website exists based on the ad revenue generated by its users. There's no such thing as being 100% safe online, but users should have a reasonable expectation that there are adequate systems and protocols in place to mitigate.

I was stunned to find out that MN apparently doesn't employ 24 hours moderation coverage. It's inexcusable. User/volunteer moderators are extremely common, but there must be a specially trained resource available around the clock to deal with things like this.

Disabling images is fine, if that's going to be permanent. But that doesn't stop links being posted.

This issue won't be dealt with until MN puts things in place to prevent it happening again, and tells its users and advertisers what they are, so that an informed decision can be made about future usage.

I doubt you will receive an official statement.
This site primarily exists to make a lot of ad money, with links to the tabloids and so on.

The more people fight and tear each other's arseholes apart on MN, the richer they get, lol. They likely delete what might legally compromise them.

Exactly this. You have an awful lot of opinions and strong emotions for someone who wasn't involved.

Op it's very easy to contact mnhq if you really feel you aren't satisfied by what's been said or done note sure this is helpful

Was there a discussion about this on Radio 2 or 4 the other day. I caught the tail end of something about mumsnet but they seemed to be talking about AI...or maybe it was something altogether different. ?