a generation ago, would have been con- sidered inconceivable in mainstream culture. Just one click by a child on the wrong link and predators can take over a PC or laptop. Once in, they monitor a child’s online behavior, and can even operate the system’s camera to take pictures or videos without the child user, or their parents, ever knowing it. Some experts estimate the profits
on child porn are close to $100 billion a year. Big Tech firms shelter behind laws
that were intended to shield a once- nascent industry from liability and con- tent-related lawsuits. A New York Times probe into the
growing plague cited “the central role Silicon Valley has played in facilitating the imagery’s spread and in reporting it to the authorities.” Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the non-
profit National Center on Sexual Exploitation, says one factor fueling the sex-trafficking and child-exploitation pandemic stems from a fundamental misperception. For some, the word “pornography”
still conjures visions of the centerfold in Playboy, or the notion that you have to actually log onto a website known to host pornographic content in order to view that material. “They’re thinking it’s specific areas
on the web, specific websites,” she says. “But the reality it’s everywhere now. It’s all over the mainstream sites.” The Times reports the abusers
employ increasingly sophisticated encrypted technologies on the dark web to seduce children at younger and younger ages, sometimes just 4 or 5 years old. Violent and abusive depictions with
children are common, and once the compromising images are uploaded to the cloud, they resurface again and again, seemingly without end. Even years later, adults fear they will
be recognized as previous victims of horrific abuse. One devastatingly effective tac- tic: grooming vulnerable kids during
online gaming. Many online games have associated chat rooms. The preda- tors in their 30s and 40s pose as young boys who feign interest in girls to befriend them . . . or as girls looking for a boyfriend. They ask the child to share their
picture or click on a link, and the dan- gerous interaction escalates from there. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is waging a series of pitched lawsuits and legal bat- tles nationwide on behalf of victims of exploitation and trafficking. Over 90% of the millions of annual
reports of attempted child exploitation online are filed by just five companies: Facebook, Instagram, Google, Whats- App, and Omegle. That’s because those companies systematically report detect- ed cases. NCOSE reports that in 2020 an
analysis of U.S. sex trafficking cases found 65% of the children groomed and exploited via social media were recruit- ed on Facebook, with 14% on Insta- gram, and 8% via Snapchat. NCOSE CEO Dawn Hawkins tells Newsmax, “If we want to stop sex traf- ficking and child sexual abuse, all these horrific things we all agree are terrible, we have to go to these root causes and primary prevention. And right now, Big Tech is a huge reason it’s proliferating.” For child welfare advocates, how-
ever, it’s a case of David against Goliath. Their attorneys must go up against the vast legal teams and virtually limitless resources of giant social-media corpora- tions worth billions of dollars. One example: John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 v. Twitter, Inc., a case heard in the notoriously liberal federal 9th Cir- cuit courts in Northern California. In its brief, NCOSE alleges Twitter “knowingly hosted sexual exploitation material, including child sex abuse material . . . and allowed human traf- ficking and the dissemination of child sexual abuse material to continue on its platform, therefore profiting and receiv- ing value from the harmful and exploi-
Continued on page 16 JULY 2023 | NEWSMAX 15
Anti-Trafficking Curriculum Saving Young Lives
Without this class I’d probably be dead right now.”
Those were the stunning words of a
Michigan teen girl who narrowly escaped becoming a victim of sexual exploitation and traficking. What saved her: an innovative new
K-12 human traficking curriculum now being introduced in classrooms nationwide. It is the brainchild of the A21 campaign, the global nonprofit headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. Founded in 2008 by Christian activist and speaker Christine Caine and her husband, Nick, it aims to “abolish slavery everywhere, forever.” The curriculum is now steadily being
adopted by school districts nationwide. Over 1,300 educators in more than 500 schools have received facilitator training to present the course, which comes with a guidebook for teachers and a separate workbook for students. The potentially life-saving
curriculum, including instructional videos, offers lessons appropriate for each age group on: How to detect the signs of predatory
behavior online; Setting relationship boundaries and equipping children with refusal skills; Teaching school kids their rights and
responsibilities in the digital world around them; Learning about digital safety, and the dangers of chat rooms and online gaming. The program empowers children to
report suspected “online grooming” to a trusted adult, and it’s already begun saving children and putting suspects behind bars.
A21.ORG
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