Dear Friend,
Janary was an action-packed month. We saw two incredible legislative victories:
the
Trafficking Survivors Relief Act (TSRA)
was signed into law
, giving survivors a path to vacate unjust criminal records that they obtained while under the control of a sex trafficker. And the
DEFIANCE Act
, which allows survivors of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) to sue their perpetrators, was
unanimously passed by the Senate!
Talk about hitting the ground running after Christmas!
Now, as we begin February, the NCOSE Team is once again firing on all cylinders. We’re launching into this month boldly by
petitioning the Supreme Court to interpret Section 230.
Because the Supreme Court has never weighed in on Section 230, h
armful misinterpretations in lower courts have left us with an Internet where sexual exploitation runs rampant and the tech companies responsible are never held to account. It’s time to change that. And the way to change it is by
getting the Supreme Court to review John Doe’s lawsuit against Twitter!
You can read more about it in the newsletter below.
Sincerely,
Marcel van der Watt
President & CEO
National Center on Sexual Exploitation
NCOSE Petitions Supreme Court to Interpret Section 230 on the 30th Anniversary of its Passage
After 30 years of
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
allowing tech companies and predators to wreak havoc in online spaces, NCOSE is demanding an answer from the nation’s highest court:
How do we protect survivors of online sexual abuse with Section 230 in place?
Time and time again, Section 230 has allowed sexual exploitation to run rampant and has left survivors without any recourse.
There are countless, heartbreaking stories,
where Section 230 blocked justice for survivors. But one of them is bringing the law to center stage:
“We’ve reviewed the content and did not find a violation of our policies, so no action will be taken at this time.”
This is how Twitter (now X) responded after John Doe reported
child sexual abuse material
(CSAM, the more apt word for “child pornography”) of him and his friend that was circulating on the platform. At age thirteen and fourteen, the boys were coerced by an online sex trafficker into making those videos, and years later, they showed up on Twitter. Despite John and his mother’s efforts, including sending a picture of John’s ID to prove he was a minor,
Twitter flatly refused to remove the illegal CSAM.
John and his mother, Jane Doe, were left absolutely heartbroken. But they were ready to take action.
The NCOSE Law Center
and
the Haba Law Firm
have stood alongside John and his family by representing them in a lawsuit against Twitter for this blatantly illegal behavior.
📝
Read the full blog to learn more about our uphill battle with Section 230 and why a Supreme Court interpretation of this law is essential
📣 ACTION:
Donate to Fund the Fight Against Section 230!
The NCOSE Law Center serves all of its clients free of charge, so grassroots donors, like you, are what make it possible for us to fight for justice for survivors.
American Spectator:
The Pornography Free Pass
"Have you ever wondered why so much sexually explicit content pollutes the internet today? Hardcore pornography is omnipresent online, even for children. Did something magically happen that green-lighted unlimited pornography on everyone’s mobile devices and laptops?"
The answer to this question lies in a decision made by the Department of Justice back in 2009, writes NCOSE Senior Legal Counsel Benjamin Bull.
Federal law actually makes it a crime to distribute obscene material, like hardcore pornography, and this includes on the Internet. But Bull says that in 2009, the Obama administration stopped prosecuting obscenity cases, effectively asking the pornography industry to regulate itself.
"It doesn't take a genius to see how this was going to end," Bull writes.
Since then, the online pornography industry has exploded.
💡
Want to learn more about obscenity laws? Read the full op-ed in the American Spectator.
📣
ACTION:
Ask the DOJ to Enforce Obscenity Laws!
The Hill:
Social media is a sex trafficking marketplace – US law creates a safe haven
"It may not come as a surprise that social media has facilitated the worst crimes imaginable against children. Today, sex traffickers and child predators from around the world can easily groom and exploit children — even from inside their own homes," writes Dani Pinter, Chief Legal Officer and Director of the Law Center at NCOSE.
"But what may be news to most is that U.S. law shields social media platforms from liability for their role in these crimes against children.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
, which was passed at the dawn of the internet to protect a nascent industry, has become a nearly impenetrable shield against accountability for the wealthiest and most powerful industry in the world. It guards Big Tech even from preventable and devastating harms its products inflict on children."
📝
Read Dani Pinter's full op-ed to learn more about Section 230.
📣
ACTION:
Urge Congress to Remove Section 230 Immunity!
Sincerely,
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