Podcast: Lisa Thompson on how the Pornography Industry Exploits Image-Based Sexual Abuse | "Not a Fantasy"

Lisa Thompson joins Haley McNamara to discuss the recent launch of a groundbreaking new report, Not a Fantasy: How the Pornography Industry Exploits Image-based Sexual Abuse in Real Life. 

The report exposes how the pornography industry facilitates, normalizes, and profits from image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). Lisa shares her journey into this work to end sexual exploitation and how she was able to bring this report to life. Haley and Lisa chat through some of the details of the report as well, including 9 ways the pornography industry fuels IBSA. 

📝Download the "Not a Fantasy" Report!

Victory! App Store Accountability Act Passes in Texas

Alabama has become the second U.S. State to pass the App Store Accountability Act!

This crucial bill requires app stores, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, to verify the age of users before allowing them to download age-restricted apps. It also requires parental consent for minors to download apps or make in-app purchases, and requires app stores have accurate age ratings to inform parents about the dangers on an app. 

The App Store Accountability Act provides a wide-reaching solution to child online safety that will significantly simplify parents’ efforts to keep their kids safe online. Rather than trying to address dangers one app at a time, it targets the key chokepoints: the places where children download all apps to begin with.

The bill now heads to the Governor's desk, hopefully to soon be signed into law! 

📣ACTION: Ask Your State to Pass the App Store Accountability Act! 

Utah and Texas have passed this important bill. Ask your state to be next! 

Kids Online Safety Act reintroduced — with Apple's support!

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that is vital to protect children online, was reintroduced in the Senate after stopping short of passing last year. Despite its overwhelming support, passing the Senate 91-3 last year, the Congressional session ended before the bill could be put up for a vote in the House.

This year, KOSA must pass.

“Every day, children are exposed to harms online, targeted with sextortion threats, groomed by predators, fed dangerous content. Kids are dying while Big Tech avoids all accountability. It’s beyond time for Kids Online Safety Act!” said Dr. Marcel van der Watt, president of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

KOSA ensures tech platforms prioritize children's online safety by establishing a Duty of Care, requiring them to design products responsibly to protect minors. It also mandates safeguards and parental tools to shield children from harmful content and predatory behavior.

New York Times: These Internal Documents Show Why We Shouldn’t Trust Porn Companies

 "What goes through the minds of people working at porn companies profiting from videos of children being raped?" writes Nicholas Kristof, journalist for the New York Times, in his most recent investigative piece against Pornhub.

Thousands of internal documents from Pornhub were mistakenly released due to a filing error by a Federal District Court in Alabama. These documents reveal Pornhub employees were well-aware of the exploitative content being promoted on their site: 

“I hope I never get in trouble for having those vids on my computer LOOOOL,” one staff member messaged another.

“There is A LOT of very, very obvious and disturbing CSAM here.” CSAM stands for child sexual abuse material," another wrote.

📣ACTION: Call for Legislation Requiring Pornography Companies to Verify Age and Consent!