TAKE IT DOWN Act Passes Senate: Hope for Survivors of Image-Based Sexual Abuse! In a massive victory, The TAKE IT DOWN Act passed the Senate unanimously this week! It now moves to the House for consideration.
Imagine waking up to find sexually explicit images of yourself, shared without consent, for the world to see. This is the devastating reality for countless people who have been victimized through image-based sexual abuse (IBSA)
It is an uphill battle for survivors to have these images removed from websites. The TAKE IT DOWN Act changes this entirely, ensuring that tech platforms remove IBSA within 48 hours of receiving a victim’s removal request – this is a life-saving solution for survivors. |
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Progress with Roblox. Pam Bondi Nomination. Pivotal Court Case... And More!
Sarah (pseudonym) allowed her 9-year old daughter to play a game on Roblox thinking it was just an innocent children’s gaming platform. After all, 42% of its users are under the age of 13. Tragically, she later discovered that the supposed “children’s” gaming network is littered with sexual exploitation.
Sarah’s daughter was approached by another Roblox user whom she thought was “really trendy and cool.” Not long after that, this user lured the 9-year-old off of Roblox and onto a messaging app, where he bombarded her with sexual images, videos, and text messages describing “really disgusting things,” Sarah recalled.
Tragically, this experience is far too common. Pedophiles know that millions of children play Roblox for fun and creative online games. These child predators flock to the gaming platform as a means to manipulate, groom, and extort vulnerable children. On this week’s episode of “The Movement,” we’ll be discussing some of the recent improvements Roblox made to combat the pervasive sexual abuse that occurs on its platform—and many more thrilling victories! |
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Peter Gentala, NCOSE Senior Legal Counsel, Interviewed on Fox News RE: Age Verification for Pornography
NCOSE Senior Legal Counsel Peter Gentala, Esq. spoke to Fox News Channel "The Ingraham Angle" about the Supreme Court's review of a Texas law aimed at protecting children from pornography.
The Texas Law would require age verification to ensure users are at least 18 years old on websites with large amounts of “sexual material harmful to minors” (such as pornography websites). The Free Speech Coalition (FSC), an organization that lobbies on behalf of the pornography industry, is challenging this law—and we are pushing back!
"Age verification just makes sense," says Gentala. "A child in the United States right now can't go into a brick and mortar retail store, like a Walmart, and purchase sexually graphic material. Purchase pornography. They can't go into a bookstore and purchase pornography. But they can go, uninhibited, online to some of the largest websites in the world who are making billions and billions of dollars off the most dangerous and violent material that's imaginable."
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Mounting Pressure Compels Telegram to Proactively Detect CSAM
Sexual exploiters have found solace in the anarchy that is Telegram for far too long. We are happy to say that, after years of ignoring pleas to commit to child protection and being named to this year’s Dirty Dozen List, Telegram has agreed to work with the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to proactively detect and stop the spread of known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) shared in public parts of the site.
Telegram is a 2024 Dirty Dozen List target for facilitating massive amounts of sexual exploitation, including nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit material (sometimes called “revenge pornography”), AI-generated image-based sexual abuse (also known as "deepfake pornography"), and sexual extortion (“sextortion”). The platform has also run rampant with CSAM and predators who groom minors.
Until recently, Telegram had refused to make any type of reform to their platform that would curb these malevolent behaviors, under the guise of protecting free speech. While NCOSE applauds this first step toward preventing CSAM on the platform, Telegram must do more to combat grooming of children and image-based sexual abuse as well. |
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The Kids Online Safety Act passed the Senate 91-3 but is now stalled in the House. This vital bill, the first in 25 years designed to protect children online, faces opposition from Big Tech, delaying its progress despite overwhelming support.
12 parents whose children died from harms on social media will be on the Hill for critical meetings. If you are a person of prayer, please consider supporting them by joining in a day of prayer for KOSA's passage, on Dec. 10 at 11 AM ET via Zoom, or pray individually if you cannot attend. |
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