Terrorists, pedophiles/child molesters, organized crime like drug dealers, intellectual property pirates, and money launderers are cited commonly.
[...] Digital rights activist Cory Doctorow frequently cites "software pirates, organized crime, child pornographers, and terrorists".
[4] May used the phrase to express disdain for what he perceived as "Think of the children" argumentation by government officials and others seeking to justify limiting the civilian use of cryptography tools.
Later in 2015, Gamma Group released a statement claiming that their surveillance technology is used "against terrorist threats, drug cartels, other major organized crime, and paedophile rings.
In 2022, European Commission proposed the Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse, nicknamed "Chat Control", which includes a requirement to scan private communication on the endpoints, leveraging the Think of the children argument for effectively bypassing end-to-end encryption.