U.S. Giving Shelter to Alleged Sex Traffickers, Andrew and Tristan Tate

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center (NCOSE), which represents Jane Doe and others being sued by Andrew and Tristan Tate for being witnesses in the Romanian sex trafficking investigation, responded to news that the Tate brothers have been allowed to leave Romania under judicial control and fly to the United States. 
 
National Center on Sexual Exploitation Senior Vice President and Director of the Law Center Dani Pinter said, “It seems clear the U.S. intervened in Romania to assist the Tate brothers who are being prosecuted for sex trafficking over 35 women including minors. This is a slap in the face to all the victims of the Tate brothers especially the U.S. victim who is not being protected by her country."

Learn more about Andrew Tate and the allegations against him below. 

Senate Hearing is a Step Toward Ending Section 230 Once and For All 

Fifteen-year-old John Doe (pseudonym) was seeking people who would accept him. People who wouldn't bully him for being on the spectrum. Or for being gay.  
 
He thought he could find that on the Grindr dating app.  
 
But instead, Grindr "matched" John with four adult men who repeatedly raped him.  

Undoubtedly, those four adult men shoulder the blame for John's rape. But so does Grindr.  
 
Grindr claimed to be an 18+ dating app, yet aggressively marketed to children. It did not verify John's age when he signed up for an account. Instead, it welcomed the child onto the app, geolocated him, and matched him with nearby adult predators.  

But when John and his family filed a lawsuit against Grindr for facilitating this child sexual abuse, the court dismissed the case. Why, you may ask? Because current law prevents tech companies from facing repercussions when their platform harms its users, even when the company clearly took an active role in causing that harm.  

Carrie Goldberg, attorney for John Doe and his family, shared this story last week at a Senate Judiciary Commitee Hearing on Communications Decency Act Section 230.

Section 230 is the reason John and his family were robbed of justice. It must be repealed. 

📣ACTION: Urge Congress to Remove CDA 230 Immunity!

As long as Section 230 exists, tech companies will continue to profit from sexual exploitation running rampant on their platforms without facing any consequences.

Wall Street Journal: States Consider App-Store Age-Verification Laws

Dawn Hawkins, Senior Advisor and former CEO at NCOSE, was featured in a Wall Street Journal article about legislation which would require app stores to verify the age of users before allowing them to download certain age-restricted apps.

The conversation comes to the forefront as tech giants spar over who should be responsible for age verification, app stores or the social media apps themselves.

"Both Apple and Meta think the onus to verify user ages shouldn’t be on them. Apple last year helped kill a bill in Louisiana that would have forced app stores to handle age verification...

Dawn Hawkins, senior adviser to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and a member of the coalition, said app-store laws are some of the most straightforward ways to curb abuse online she has seen in roughly 15 years working on the issue.

'It became really clear that there’s a chokepoint with Google and Apple,' she said."

Several states have introduced bills that would require app stores to implement age verification.

2024 Gratitude Report: Your Victories in the Fight to End Sexual Exploitation!

The 2024 Gratitude Report is here! Your passion, advocacy, and dedication to preserve human dignity has achieved a mountain of victories in the fight against sexual exploitation this year.

To celebrate, let’s take a look back on all progress we’ve made together toward three key objectives:

• Ensure Tech Prioritizes Child Protection Over Profit
• Drive Societal Change to Reject Pornography
• End the Demand for Paid Sex that Drives Sex Trafficking
  

Sincerely,