Dear Friend,

October has been an action-packed month!

The 2025 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report was released at the beginning of the month. The TIP report is the principal diplomatic tool used by the US Government to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. It describes and ranks the anti-trafficking efforts of the United States and those of foreign governments.

Unfortunately, this year’s country rankings missed the mark in several ways. Listen to our leadership team discuss the 2025 TIP Reports here.

There has also been plenty of movement in legislation for online child protection. NCOSE endorsed two new bills aimed at combatting the harms of AI Chatbots: the AI LEAD Act and the GUARD Act. The AI LEAD Act creates a product liability framework for artificial intelligence systems and requires AI companies to build products with the safety of users in mind. Meanwhile, the GUARD Act requires age verification to prevent minors from accessing AI companions (i.e. chatbots that mimic human interactions and encourage emotional bonding).

The GUARD Act already seems to be making waves in the tech industry; shortly after its introduction, Character.ai announced that it will implement age verification to keep minors out of open-ended chats with AI bots. 

Additionally, NCOSE helped coordinate a joint letter with over 400 organizations urging Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). KOSA is still the most comprehensive solution for child online safety currently pending before Congress. You can read more about what it does and why it’s so important here.

Thank you for joining us as we press onwards, every day, to a world where all can live and love, free from sexual abuse and exploitation!

 
Sincerely,  

Marcel van der Watt 
President & CEO 
National Center on Sexual Exploitation 

P.S. Read on for the rest of the newsletter! 

Ending Sexploitation Podcast: MAJOR Changes for Character.AI | Episode 83

Character.AI has announced a surprising and encouraging change to their platform that would restrict usage to 18+ users. It remains to be seen how accurate and reliable their system handles age verification, and Haley McNamara and Dani Pinter discuss the lead up to this monumental change for a major player in the AI companion bot space.

Tune in and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform!

📣ACTION: Call on Other AI Chatbots to Restrict Underage Access As Well!

When Pornography Use Escalates into Sex Offender Status 

John (pseudonym) was enjoying a peaceful weekend away with his wife when he received a harrowing phone call from a neighbor:

“The police are in your house. They’re looking for you.”

But he knew exactly what it was about. Without a second thought. For months, John had been viewing and sharing child sexual abuse material.

His wife was left speechless.

“Why?” she wondered. Ostensibly, it’s a simple question, but the answer is profoundly complex.

John informed her that his pornography addiction had spiraled and led him down a much more menacing path: chat rooms where people exchanged sexually explicit images and videos of minors.

“I didn’t start out wanting to see kids,” John reflected. “Those first videos start to become boring. Your brain starts to say, that’s not good enough. Soon you are watching rape fantasies –there are loads of categories like this on mainstream sites. Then it’s teenagers. The algorithms keep showing you more extreme stuff.”

Read more here. 

📣ACTION: Ask Your Legislators to Protect Children from Online Pornography!

The harmful impact of pornography is exacerbated when a person is exposed during their childhood or adolescence, when their brain is still developing and most vulnerable. One of the prevention tactics for these harms is to protect children from exposure to online pornography. Meaningful legislative solutions exist to do exactly that.

Wizz, “Tinder for Kids,” is Not as Safe As it Claims

Immy (pseudonym) was only 15 when she met Max on Wizz. According to this Wizz profile, he was 16 years old. Who was actually behind the screen? A 21-year-old man seeking out vulnerable teens to sexually exploit. Immy was just one of his targets. 

He started by gaining her trust: showering her with compliments and flattery.  
 
“I was quite vulnerable at the time,” Immy reflects. “It is an age where you want boys to like you, you want them to show interest in you. He was and he made me feel special, he made me feel seen." 
 
Because of Wizz’s purported safety features, Immy though she was safe. “I thought you could only talk to people within a certain age range and you had to prove your age.” 

But this was the beginning of Immy experiencing devastating sexual abuse on Wizz.

Like many otherx, Immy was lulled into a false sense of security by Wizz claiming to have robust safety tools, such as age verification. But while age verification is a great tool, unfortunately, several sources have found that Wizz is not making effective use of it. 

Read more here. 

📣ACTION: Call on Congress to End Section 230 Immunity!

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the reason tech companies like Wizz continue to get away with exploiting children. 

National Declaration from Nearly 100 Survivors

“When faced with the decision of ‘reveal your name or risk your abuser walking free’ – survivors are forced to make a life-or-death decision. . . . A decision that no court should force a survivor to make.”

This is what nearly 100 survivors said in a National Declaration this week. The Declaration was issued following a disturbing ruling in the NCOSE Law Center’s case against Nevada brothels: departing from established legal precedent, a judge told our survivor client that she must reveal her name to the public or her lawsuit would be tossed out.

This ruling threatens not only our client, but survivors across the country. How will survivors feel safe to pursue charges against their abusers, if the courts insist on exposing them to public shaming and retaliation?

In response, NCOSE coordinated a National Declaration from survivors, emphasizing how crucial anonymity is for survivor protection and how no court should force a survivor to reveal their name to the public.

Read the National Declaration here. 

📣ACTION: Donate to the NCOSE Law Center!

The NCOSE Law Center has appealed this abhorrent decision and continues to fight on Jane Doe’s behalf. We represent Jane Doe and all our clients free of charge, so your support is a big part of what makes lawsuits like this possible.

Please consider becoming a monthly donor to the NCOSE Law Center, to enable pro-bono legal representation for survivors!