{"id":1996323,"date":"2023-08-10T07:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T11:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-least-congress-can-do-is-hold-tech-giants-accountable-for-aiding-child-sex-traffickers\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T08:03:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T12:03:01","slug":"the-least-congress-can-do-is-hold-tech-giants-accountable-for-aiding-child-sex-traffickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-least-congress-can-do-is-hold-tech-giants-accountable-for-aiding-child-sex-traffickers\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress must hold tech giants accountable for aiding child sex traffickers."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-least-congress-can-do-is-hold-tech-giants-accountable-for-aiding-child-sex-traffickers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1996323&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>The Hidden Dangers of Social Media: Protecting Our Children<\/h2>\n<p>The recent film \u2064\u201cSound \u200dof \u200cFreedom\u201d rightly brought attention to the horrific \u2063global child sex trafficking industry. But the problem\u2063 is much nearer to home than\u200d most people realize. \u2063Social media platforms like \u200cFacebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok \u200dprovide traffickers and eager predators \u2064unprecedented \u2063access to children \u2064in the \u200bUnited States.\u200d And this \u2062sexual exploitation\u200b can happen without children ever leaving their parents\u2019\u2063 homes.<\/p>\n<p>Online\u2063 platforms have made it far easier \u2063for strangers to gain access \u2062to children. According to \u2064the Houston-based organization United Against\u2063 Human Trafficking, 55 \u200dpercent of victims of U.S. sex trafficking \u200daged 7\u200d to 11 are\u2064 recruited through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-idol-accused-of-using-conway-daughter-for-ratings\/\" title=\"\u2018American Idol\u2019 Accused Of Using Conway Daughter For Ratings\">social media apps<\/a> and websites. Social media makes it easy for perpetrators to find and communicate\u2063 with\u200c their victims and also provides a convenient venue for sexual content to be advertised, bought, and \u200csold.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>With social media,\u2063 sex trafficking is happening in plain sight. After the trafficker or lone-acting \u2064pedophile establishes \u200ba relationship of trust with\u200d the\u2063 child, \u2062they\u2064 will either try to meet in real life or \u2062exploit the child online, often through the \u200bsame platform. This means children may\u2062 continue to lead seemingly normal \u200blives \u2014 \u2062going to\u200c school, playing sports\u200d \u2014\u2063 all while being coerced to engage in sexual activity online.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>To address child sexual exploitation online, policymakers must hold Big Tech companies responsible.<\/p>\n<p>For many years, \u200bSection 230 \u200cof the Communications Decency Act \u2063(and its overly expansive \u2062interpretation) has Big Tech \u2062sweeping immunity from any harm their platforms\u2062 cause. They have been given immunity from\u200b both the harmful content they distribute, like child \u2064pornography and exploitative material,\u2062 and, worse, they have largely been given immunity for harms from their own product design \u200dthat helps facilitate sex trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their legal\u200b immunity, the evidence of Big Tech\u2019s\u200b culpability in child exploitation speaks\u2064 for itself. \u2064Instagram \u2062helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts \u2063openly\u2064 devoted to the commission and purchase of underage\u2064 sex content, according to investigations \u2064by The Wall Street Journal. Forbes \u200bfound that TikTok live streams are \u2062full of viewers using the \u200dcomments to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taylor-lorenz-silent-after-disturbing-report-exposes-tiktoks-sexual-exploitation-of-children\/\" title=\"Taylor Lorenz SILENT After Disturbing Report Exposes TikTok\u2019s \u2018Sexual Exploitation\u2019 of Children\">urge young girls<\/a> to \u200bperform\u200c acts that appear to toe the \u200dline\u200b of\u200b child\u2064 pornography \u200b\u2014 rewarding\u200c those\u200c who oblige with TikTok \u200bgifts. It\u2019s \u201cthe digital equivalent of going down the street to a strip \u200cclub filled with 15-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Facebook too has been used to sexually exploit\u2062 children \u2063in at \u200cleast 366 cases between \u2063January 2013 \u200band December 2019. And Twitter, which \u2062has been rebranded as X, has had similar problems. While Twitter CEO Elon Musk \u200dhas said that removing\u200d child sexual \u2063content from Twitter was \u201cPriority #1,\u201d the teams \u2064charged with monitoring for and subsequently \u200bremoving such content\u2064 have been \u200creduced from 20 people to fewer than \u200c10.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200csummary, these investigative reports and lawsuits, spanning Facebook, Instagram,\u200c Twitter, and TikTok,\u2063 show these platforms to be at fault in two main ways.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>First, both Meta and \u200cTwitter admitted they\u200b have not done their \u200ddue diligence \u200bin removing explicit content from their websites\u200b or reviewing reports in a timely manner. In some instances, child pornography victims have \u2062had to wait years until Twitter removed\u2062 videos of their abuse. Similarly, Instagram allowed people to search explicit \u2063hashtags such as #pedowhore and #preteensex and connected them to accounts using those terms to advertise child-sex material for\u2062 sale.<\/li>\n<li>Second, these \u2062platforms have been designed\u200c with algorithms that extract user data to then recommend and promote content \u200bthe user would like. \u2062In some examples, Instagram and TikTok recommended accounts of young girls to traffickers or linked accounts filled with child\u2062 pornography \u200bas \u201csuggested follows.\u201d According to \u200dThe Wall Street Journal, Instagram doesn\u2019t merely\u2062 host pedophilic activities, its algorithms promote them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It\u2019s one thing for Section 230 to protect \u2063tech giants \u200dfrom liability for opinions that \u200dindividuals post; it\u2019s another thing for them to\u200c get off scot-free for facilitating\u200b child exploitation \u200cboth by\u2064 designing algorithms that help traffickers\u200c find and connect with their victims and by failing to remove child \u2062sexual abuse material.<\/p>\n<p>Congress agreed. As a first\u200b step toward reforming\u200b Section 230, Congress passed the Fight Online Sex\u2062 Trafficking Act in 2017\u200c (known as FOSTA-SESTA), which carves out \u2062an exception to\u2063 Section 230 immunity to enforce sex trafficking laws. This\u200c new law \u2064helped secure\u200c a historic \u200cvictory for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-facebook-is-largest-online-recruitment-tool-for-human-traffickers\/\" title=\"Report: Facebook is largest online recruitment tool for human traffickers\">sex trafficking victims<\/a> over \u200bBig Tech in Texas last year.<\/p>\n<p>This is\u2063 a good start, \u200cbut Congress needs to address \u200cthe underlying issues enabling\u200d child exploitation on social media. Currently, \u200cvictims have \u200cno means of \u2062legal recourse to ensure that a platform removes\u2063 images of\u2064 their exploitation and\u2062 abuse. And companies still have complete \u200dimmunity for their exploitative product design. Although it\u2064 has become\u2063 a political football, Section 230 does need to be\u200d reformed so that Big Tech companies can be held \u2064liable for their facilitation and \u2062willful distribution of\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/second-minor-sues-twitter-over-sex-trafficking-on-social-media-site\/\" title=\"Second Minor Sues Twitter Over Sex Trafficking On Social Media Site\">child sexual abuse material<\/a> on their \u2064sites.<\/p>\n<p>One\u200d bill taking steps in the right direction is the \u200cbipartisan EARN IT Act that was voted out of the \u200bSenate Judiciary \u200dCommittee for the third time this May (it \u200dhas yet to\u2062 pass a floor vote). The bill \u200damends\u200c Section 230 to\u200b remove immunity from federal civil, state criminal, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-least-congress-can-do-is-hold-tech-giants-accountable-for-aiding-child-sex-traffickers\/\" title=\"Congress must hold tech giants accountable for aiding child sex traffickers.\">state civil child sexual abuse material laws<\/a> (similar\u2062 to\u200b the \u2062FOSTA-SESTA model for trafficking laws). Internet companies would\u200d then \u2062be \u200btreated like everyone else when\u200c it comes \u2063to combating child sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n<p>For\u2064 the sake of America\u2019s children, we must hold Big Tech accountable for child exploitation.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>is happening right under our noses, often disguised as innocent online interactions. It is crucial for society to acknowledge and address this alarming issue, ensuring the safety and protection of our children from the dark realities of child sex trafficking facilitated by social media platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2275,"featured_media":1996324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1996323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1996323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1996324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}