>Out of 50 newest threads on Off-Topic
That's not even 1 week's worth of threads - and that's with Off-Topic being noticeably slower than usual for the past 2 or 3 weeks. On a monthly basis, there are a ton of pedo and loli threads (and non-pedo threads that turn into pedo threads) that pass through Off-Topic - especially compared to 2+ years ago when they only occurred once in a blue moon

>we get a rash of threads regarding being attracted to IRL young girls
That's basically whenever faganon shows up - his threads are very samey

>no one browsing imageboards regularly would have given a shit before like 2018 or so
Not entirely true - there's been anti-loli sentiments and clampdowns at various points since imageboards have existed, including (in fact, especially) on 4chan

However, it's true that the internet in general has dropped the "defend your right to say it fap to it" and "they're just drawings LOL" mindsets, and become even more rabidly anti-2D loli since the mid-2010s, but that coincides with 1. the big increase in popularity of anime in the West (thus more people being exposed to the idea of loli), and 2. the big increase in outrage/"social justice" movements on the internet

3D loli and openly pro-pedophilia discussions were never widely-accepted anywhere on the English-speaking net, and the sites housing that kind of material were always shortlived