EdgeAIGuard: Agentic LLMs for Minor Protection in Digital Spaces

--Social media has become integral to minors' daily lives and is used for various purposes, such as making friends, exploring shared interests, and engaging in educational activities. However, the increase in screen time has also led to heightened challenges, including cyberbullying, online grooming, and exploitations posed by malicious actors. Traditional content moderation techniques have proven ineffective against exploiters' evolving tactics. T o address these growing challenges, we propose the EdgeAIGuard content moderation approach that is designed to protect minors from online grooming and various forms of digital exploitation. The proposed method comprises a multi-agent architecture deployed strategically at the network edge to enable rapid detection with low latency and prevent harmful content targeting minors. The experimental results show the proposed method is significantly more effective than the existing approaches. Social media platforms have fundamentally transformed how individuals communicate, connect, and share information. It is not an exaggeration to say that social media has become integral to our daily lives. For minors, these platforms serve to form their identities, express themselves, and interact socially [1]. A recent study revealed that approximately 84% of teenagers aged 13 to 17 actively use social media for an average of 4.8 hours daily [2]. Platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram are easily accessible on devices like smartphones and wearables, allowing users to share their personal experiences while engaging with diverse content.