A popular travel influencer and YouTuber has been found dead at his home just hours after he was arrested as part of a child pornography probe in Argentina. According to the New York Post, Leonel Esteban Borroni’s body was found by a relative at his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires on May 17. He was found hanging from a skylight with his hands and legs bound with plastic ties. Police suspect that he took his own life, but are awaiting autopsy results.

The travel influencer was known by his social media username “Un Leon Viajero” which means “A Lion Traveller” in English. He had 164,000 followers on Instagram where he posted photos of motorbike trips to places like Ecuador, Venezuela and French Guiana.

Notably, he had been arrested following the alleged discovery of child pornography on his electronic devices. He was released on bail just hours after appearing before a judge as part of an ongoing investigation into human trafficking and sexual abuse. 

The influencer is believed to have refused to answer questions about the child porn allegedly found.

The case came to light after the Argentinian authorities received a tip-off from a US-based agency specialising in combating child exploitation. Another five men and a woman, aged between 20 and 50, have also been implicated in the investigation.

His last post on Instagram was two weeks ago when he shared a picture of himself on the back of a motorbike and bid “goodbye” to some of his followers. He wrote, “What a beautiful moment I am living Laions, saying goodbye to some social media and entering others.”

He’d earlier posted: “In these eight years of touring places I never thought I would reach I achieved my travelling goal, I am happy for all that I could shoot, and above all for having health and support of the Laions, I hope the universe helps me to enjoy it all I walked from another place with more comfort, I deserve it. Thank you.”

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Monday red-flagged a Madras High Court decision to not consider the downloading of child pornography as a crime. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud issued notice to the Tamil Nadu Police and the accused in this case.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea challenging the High Court’s shocking January ruling – that downloading child pornography is not an offence under POCSO, or Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, or the Information Technology Act since such actions were taken “in privacy without affecting or influencing anyone else”.

“The moment an accused tries to circulate or distribute or publicly exhibit obscene photos and videos, then the ingredients of the offence starts kicking in…” the court said.

The court reasoned that to qualify as an offence under POCSO, and the IT Act, the accused had to have created, published, and transmitted the material. And wth relation to the IT Act, it said the relevant section did not cover cases where an individual only downloaded and watched content, without doing more.

The court therefore quashed proceedings against a 28-year-old man who had been charged with downloading child pornographic content to his mobile phone.

READ | Madras High Court’s Concern Over Gen-Z “Grappling” With Porn

As a result, all legal action against the accused was dropped.

The High Court did, however, complain about children today “grappling” with the issue of watching pornography, declaring it could have negative consequences years later.

Also declaring the accused to have been “afflicted with this (watching pornography) addiction”, the court advised counselling for a “healthy and happy future”.

In October last year, the central government sent notices to social media platforms X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Telegram, warning they would lose legal immunity unless they act on this issue urgently.

The platforms were asked to permanently remove, or disable access to, child pornography content. 

READ | “Act Against Child Porn, Or Lose Legal Immunity”: Centre To Tech Giants

The centre’s action followed reports that another social media platform – Instagram – is home to a vast network of such content being created and shared. A Wall Street Journal report said Instagram’s algorithms linked and promoted this network of people seeking illegal sexual content and activity.

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