Dear Friend,
Just yesterday, we received a groundbreaking ruling in our lawsuit against Twitter (now X). Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that X does NOT have Section 230 immunity for certain products liability and negligence per se claims, based on its abysmal child exploitation reporting mechanisms and X’s failure to report our clients CSAM (“child pornography” under the law) when it had actual knowledge of this content on its website. For too long, Section 230 has stood in the way of justice for victims of heinous sexual exploitation and accountability for websites and tech platforms that have knowingly facilitated these abuses. This is a monumental step forward in our fight to ensure tech companies can no longer escape accountability in this way.
Last week, we also celebrated Apple extending much-needed safety protections to 13 to 17-year-olds. We have fought for this for years, as research shows the 13-17 age group is often most at risk for experiencing online harms, such as sextortion and pornography exposure.
At the same time, this month has presented its share of significant challenges.
We were dismayed at the DOJ’s refusal to release the Epstein “client” list and stating that there will be no further prosecutions, despite confirming that over 1,000 people had been victimized. Standing alongside survivors, advocates, and countless concerned citizens, we are calling on the DOJ to amend this outrageous decision, and commit to holding accountable all sex buyers and facilitators involved in the Epstein sex trafficking.
Equally disturbing was the acquittal of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was found not guilty of sex trafficking despite substantial evidence presented against him. These cases highlight the need for significant improvement in our systems to address sex trafficking and ensure accountability for those in positions of power.
Heartened by the victories and spurred on by the challenges, we continue to press forward with unrelenting determination. Thank you for joining us as we fight for a world where all can live and love, free from sexual abuse and exploitation!
Sincerely, |
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TIME: Elon Musk’s Grok Will Soon Allow Users to Make AI Videos, Including of Explicit Nature
xAI's new chatbot, Grok, has come out with a new feature: the ability to generate short video clips, including sexually explicit content.
"But launches associated with Grok in recent weeks have been steeped in controversy, including its introduction of a sexualized AI 'companion.' And the new feature is sparking its own concerns over its potential use in creating deepfakes—digitally altered videos of individuals that can imitate someone’s likeness and can often be published without their consent.
'Instead of heeding our call to remove its ‘NSFW’ AI chatbot, xAI appears to be doubling down on furthering sexual exploitation by enabling AI videos to create nudity,' said Haley McNamara, a senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. 'There’s no confirmation it won’t create pornographic content that resembles a recognizable person. xAI should seek ways to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation.'”
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60 Minutes Australia: Inside Andrew Tate’s “cult” that breeds toxic masculinity among young boys NCOSE's Dani Pinter is featured in an episode of 60 minutes Australia that dives deep into the sex trafficking charges against Andrew Tate, as well as his influence in breeding misogyny among young boys.
Pinter is representing Jane Doe, a survivor of attempted sex trafficking at the hands of Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan. She describes how Jane flew to Romania thinking she was in a romantic relationship with Tristan Tate and that they would be travelling Europe together. But when she got there, she discovered that she had been lured into what appeared to be a sex trafficking operation.
Pinter explains that these methods of luring women into sex trafficking under the pretense of a romantic relationship are common: "[The Tate brothers] are very classic sex traffickers, in my opinion. I don't think they're unusual in their methods and what they did and how they did it. I think the only real thing that's unusual about them is that they bragged about it so much." |
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MSNBC: Epstein and Maxwell survivors want the buyers of sex pursued
By: Teresa Helm and Marcel van der Watt
"As news reports continue to focus on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and whether we’ll ever see a list of clients that may have been maintained by the notorious pair, those who were harmed by the duo and survived their crimes have been on a seemingly never-ending roller coaster. Every twist and turn of the news cycle knocks these sex trafficking survivors around: A list of clients is on the attorney general’s desk. A list doesn’t exist. Congress is demanding files. Maxwell has been interviewed by the DOJ. Will she be pardoned?
None of those twists or turns has gotten those who survived Epstein and Maxwell any closer to the justice they deserve. There’s only been emotional whiplash. Also, let’s make an important distinction: Epstein’s and Maxwell’s 'clients' are sex buyers.
Victims deserve justice for the abuse they survived. That justice should include accountability for their traffickers and for the buyers of illicit sex, who were complicit. It is a free pass for systems of sexual exploitation to flourish when there is no accountability or when justice appears to be fading out of reach or missing entirely."
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Hundreds of Rape and Incest Games Removed from Steam: A Gamer’s Perspective
“I didn’t have to provide any ID or anything to verify my age, and see some of the worst pornographic sexualized torture of women I’ve seen. It was pretty bad, some things I saw. I’m talking about games where the scenario is abducting women, holding them hostage, and sexually torturing them. And any child could access that.” ~Caitlin Roper, Campaigns Manager, Collective Shout
Recently, our friends at Collective Shout in Australia celebrated the success of their campaign urging the removal of nearly 500 rape and incest games from the video game platforms Steam and Itch.io. These games allowed the player to act out explicit acts of violence, rape, and incest against women and children.
The fact that these games have been removed is an incredible victory, which NCOSE unequivocally celebrates and commends Collective Shout for. At the same time, this incident has sparked a surprising amount of controversy and mixed reactions, which have reached national headlines.
As both a gamer and an advocate against sexual violence, I believe I have a unique perspective on this issue and can speak to the various concerns raised from both sides. In this piece, I will walk through the events that led up to the games’ removal, the objections and controversy it sparked, and my response.
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P.S. Want to make a big difference in the fight to end sexual exploitation? Join the Defender Coalition! The Defender Coalition is a community of monthly donors and advocates, committed for the long haul to ending sexual abuse and exploitation at its roots. Thanks to a matching grant offered by a generous donor, all Defenders' gifts will be automatically DOUBLED each month between now and the end of 2025!
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