Prevention Summit | The Impact of Technology on Human Trafficking | Aug 2023
>> Female Speaker: Incredible work that you do. I and my colleagues at ACF are absolutely in awe of you. I want to thank Ben for leading an incredibly energetic session. And most importantly, thank all of you for sharing your reflections that were so heartfelt and moving and inspirational and action driven, particularly those comments from survivors. So, thank you again. You are truly, truly incredible and this room is incredible.
I am also excited about our next discussion on the intersection of technology and human trafficking. And I'm beyond pleased to introduce you to our next speaker, Leah Juliet. Leah is an award-winning movement builder and lived experience expert on the subject of image based sexual abuse and gender-based violence in the digital age. Leah is a journalist, a poet, a speaker, and a community organizer. Leah, thank you so much for being here.
And thank you for sharing your poetry with us at this summit. [applause] >> Leah Juliet: Thank you, can everyone hear me? Wonderful? Hi, my name is Leah Juliet. I'm 26 years old. I'm from Connecticut. I am a survivor of child sexual abuse material and image based sexual abuse. I'm a poet and so I'm going to read two of my poems for you today.
If you hear something you like, pretend you're out of poetry slam, you could snap. Thank you. You can vocalize, you can do what you want.
Otherwise, I'm just throwing my awkward trauma at you and then you have to just accept it. So, this first poem is called Russian Doll. [music playing] Things no one tells you about child sexual abuse material. One, anything -- actually, you know what? Do you mind if we start over? Sorry, I think the music just started a little bit early.
Okay, we're going to do it one more time. [music playing] Things no one tells you about child sexual abuse material. One, anything. Two, the child lives with us always. And so, grief lives with us always too.
The Russian doll. The unpacking of abuse built into the bondage that holds our ribs together. Doctors call it muscle memory. I think it's just the disconnected tissue that never had a chance to mend pain so potent with nowhere to go it picks a point on the body and makes its home there manifesting as the midnight call from the unknown number that rattles the child in my bones what man is after my mercy tonight when I was 14, a boy took my body and made it an unknown number posted private parts to private pages on an internet that nearly swallowed me whole, my goddamn courage the only antidote to spit me back up. If a spider built the World Wide Web, he wouldn't have made it this sticky.
Something this inescapable has no humanity to hold, treating our children like delicate wings on a flame. We refuse to put out children like poison in the mouth of our country. Leave them in your teeth to rot there.
But here we are living in the compost bin. Angels at the gates of the getting home safe hell bent on building a world where terror doesn't take the life of a child, where wondering what man has my body tonight is not the first memory ingrained into a teen in America. Last month I wanted to die. Nearly 12 years after photographs of my teenage body were first posted online.
The grief my bones hold is too heavy for my skin tattooed and scarred with 26 years of unresolved pain I am begging you to take this grief from my childhood hands in the United States Constitution. We were endowed by our creator, whoever that may be with life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. I am searching in the dark, pressing my fingers like Braille looking for the joy that I was promised.
The joy my mother promised me when she birthed me years ago. Joy stolen too soon from hands too small blessed me to give my mother her joy back. Bless me to give my body the peace that has been trapped like a rock in my throat for a decade, tethered to a body for 12 years trapped online. We today in this room have the power to take away pain to take away anguish with action to use our seats at the table as armor for the weapons they will hold against us because of a child at school in America has taught us anything it’s that sometimes you got to use your seat at the table as a shield. When women walk out of the fire alive arsonists everywhere quiver.
The struggle of the survivor is not fighting softness in the fire, it’s that the world isn't kind to burnt skin, everything, everywhere it's quickly now. Legislation, denial of abuse that is painted as honest as I am with you in this room tonight, friends, when I was 14 years old, the woman at the other end of the suicide hotline told me to get by on little victories. I am no longer satisfied with that excuse for suicide prevention. Because the child in my soul does not need little victories. The child in my soul needs change. Thank you.
[applause] [laughs] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
This last one is one that I wrote two days ago, I woke up in the morning and my partner was next to me and I was like, this is what I'm going to do right now with my life at 6:00 a.m. [laughs] So, this is called Bees Bite Back. [music playing] I wanted to write a poem about hope. But I got too drunk on grief for my young body to cope. I wanted to write a poem about peace, but my inner child is shaking. I don't have the peace she needs.
So, instead I'll write a hymn for girls to get home safe, amended to a prayer for all of the bees still stuck in the mouth of a bear. May your stingers be sharp, may you welt the gums of the beast who brash abandon, may the scars you leave behind be uploaded. I was here. I am still here. There is nothing about me that is not here in a trafficking America.
We are each alive in the mouth of the bear. Snarling its teeth, wrestling us out of its gums crushing the small of our chest with its incisors as we're singing and waiting, waiting, and singing, freedom and recognition of abuse the only siren song that carries us day by day, hour by hour as we make it through the next bite. I know that in the laws of gravity nothing about this seems possible. I know a beast could crush me cold dead before you it's happened. There is nothing about me that is not made of dust. But I know that with the power of the people, everything is possible.
It is lightning. In my city tonight the bees are flying sideways I think, their wings wet as the back of the feral cat that take shelter under my porch. The world is so delicate, the light is so thin yet when we touch it, everything is hot, and alive.
And real. Maybe this is hope. Maybe this is peace, floating in freedom, letting the wind take you away. Everything is fragile as a fawn on the edge of the freeway as the uterus in the hands of a loaded gun in the child in a photograph, who cannot be erased.
In a world where everything is so dark, I have to think the wet wing of the bee is also protection from the bear. I have to think that death of the hands of the rain has to be more peaceful and sharp teeth in a merciless fist, the deer on the other side of the highway, the bee at the end of the storm. There is no politics that could have agency on my body. In a world we're being delicate is only determined for the same people who can legislate it away whose decisions about my body or a body erased, whose rights to dignity is only reserved for the wealthy and the free.
They will pass their bands. They will track our bodies they will surveil in our only currency the secrets that we keep until we are all dust and they're crushed fist America. For some of us, we may never see the other side of a closed mouth. There is no justice for a childhood that has been stolen. There is no justice for only knowing grief in a world that only embraces gorgeous, but I wanted to write a poem about hope. But things are still uncertain and I'm still learning to cope.
I wanted to write a poem about peace. I don't think that I have found it yet, but I have what I need when the bad ones take our bodies when they crush us and attack. The only hope that I could find is that we can bite back. Thank you. [applause] >> Kevin Duvall: There’s three up here.
Hello. Oh, there we go. Can we get another round of applause for Leah Juliet? [applause] Absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing. Good afternoon.
My name is Kevin Duvall, and I'm the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Chief Information Officer of the Administration for Children and Families. I'm honored to introduce our final panel for the day, which focuses on the impact of technology on human trafficking. At ACF, we have leveraged technology in positive ways, developing data management systems to decrease the reporting burden on grant recipients.
It's good for that one [laughs]. Streamlining our processes for issuing letters that enable survivors to be eligible for services, strengthening operational efficiencies for hotline services, and enhancing data security. We've also taken a very serious look at how human centered design should impact the development of technology. The last thing we want to do is make it for a survivor of human trafficking to not be able to access benefits because a web application is too hard to figure out.
However, we also want to know how the misuse of human trafficking has -- or misuse of human trafficking has mobilized efforts to raise awareness of trafficking schemes of using social media and other technology platforms. Today, we will hear from experts on the intersection of technology and human trafficking, who will share more about their efforts to prevent technology facilitated trafficking. The moderator for this afternoon's panel is Katherine Chon.
I think everyone knows her right, director of the HHS Office on Trafficking in Persons. The panelists are Adrian Moen [spelled phonetically], Tina Frundt, and Melissa Snow. Their full bios are in the digital program on the website. Adrian is a lived experience expert and works with Reclaim Coalition providing support for survivors of digital violence. Tina is the founder and executive director of Courtney's House, which provides direct services for youth in the Washington D.C. metro area.
Melissa is the executive director of the child sex trafficking program, analytical services division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Thank you to all our panelists for being here and sharing their insights. [applause] >> Katherine Chon: All right, good afternoon. [Unintelligible]. It is on. All right.
All right. Good afternoon. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, Leah, for reading. And for everyone in this room, we are still going strong at the end of our first full day together. I'm here actually representing another colleague who was supposed to be here but couldn't make it.
Cailin Crockett is a colleague at the White House gender policy council who is very actively engaged in leading the White House Task Force on online abuse and harassment which intersects with human trafficking. There is a blueprint around online harassment and abuse that we're coordinating with other federal agencies on. And so, I'm partly standing in for her. And for today, I wanted to first start with Melissa, from the National Center for Missing Exploited Children. Can you speak a little bit more just to help ground us in the data that you are, your organization is finding regarding the intersections of human trafficking, and technology? >> Melissa Snow: Yes, hi, everyone.
Good afternoon. It's really an honor to be here. And I was saying to somebody earlier, it feels like a family reunion, there's so many familiar faces, and it's just so good to be back in person and together with people that I admire and really appreciate.
So, I am -- I work at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC for short. And for those of you who are unfamiliar or not as familiar with our work, we are the National Clearinghouse on exploited and missing child issues. We are congressionally authorized to serve as the National Clearinghouse and have been around for 39 years. There are two primary programs that we run our public facing programs that are relevant for our conversation today that I want to make sure everybody's aware of. So, the first is our call center, it is 1-800-THE-LOST, it's our 24/7 Call Center for family members, legal guardians, as well as law enforcement to make missing child reports.
We also run the cyber tip line. This is our public reporting platform for members of the public professionals as well as electronic service providers regarding all forms of child sexual exploitation, including child sex trafficking. So, we have been sitting at the intersection of all forms of child sex trafficking or all forms of child sexual exploitation, and really sounding the alarm on how over the last 39 years, we have significantly seen the landscape of technology change, and how that is significantly impacting and increasing the vulnerability of young people. So, in 2022, so last year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received over 25,000 reports of missing children. So, the large majority of those reports were children who had run away, including children that were missing from care.
So, of those 25,000 Children that were reported missing to the National Center who had run away, one in six was a child sex trafficking victim -- was likely a child sex trafficking victim. So, that is a significant number. And one of the things that we have seen daily is the fact that those kids who are actively missing and currently being exploited, are also being recruited, groomed, advertised, and sold online, many on online escort sites or just through regular social media. So, it is a normal practice for one of the teams that I have the honor of overseeing our analytical team to take an image of a missing child that they either find online or a picture that they're provided by a legal guardian or parent, put it into a facial recognition tool that's connected to an ad aggregator, which basically is a tech tool where they go out and take images that are posted online. On online escort sites. And we are immediately then matching kids that are actively missing and actively being sold on these online export sites.
So, while that is an indicator of how technology is being used negatively to impact kids because of where they're being sold. It also is an example of technology for good where technology is being developed, where we can then take these two tools, put them together, get an active location where kids are being are sold, give that out to law enforcement to aid in the recovery. So, on the cyber tip line side, this is again, that public reporting platform for members of the public as well as electronic service providers to report all forms of child sexual exploitation. In 2022, we received more than 35 million reports. And that's all forms of child sexual exploitation.
But I'm going to let that number just settle in for just a second. 35 million reports. Almost 90 percent, 89.9 percent of those reports, resolved globally, so outside of the United States, but even though 90 percent are resolving outside of the United States, with a number like 35 million, that's still millions that are resolving here in the United States. 32 million of those reports are of a parent child sexual abuse material. We call that CSAM; it was previously referred to as child pornography.
And 31,800,000 of those reports were made by electronic service providers. So -- and this is not the dark web, right? This is clear web where the reports are coming from Facebook, snap, Instagram, Tik Tok, all the things that we are on every day. So, there's a federal law that requires electronic service providers to make that report of a parent child sexual abuse material to the cyber tip line. So, we are seeing where federal law steps in and is requiring these types of reports that we of course, know that this type of child sexual exploitation is occurring online, it is occurring in really unimaginable numbers. But that technology has to be a part of the solution.
And they have to be the ones that are motivated to both intervene in a prevention aspect as well as detect it on their platforms, and then be able to make those reports. A few other numbers just to round out the perspective. Last year, we saw an 82 percent increase of reports that involve online enticement, so involving sextortion and financial sextortion. So, received over 80,000 reports. And one of the alarming trends around the increase in those reports was how many males, minors, were reaching out directly to the cyber tip line because they were actively being recruited and harassed through financial sextortion and they didn't know what to do.
Through the cyber tip line, we also received over 18,000 reports of possible child sex trafficking. So, these numbers are overwhelming. But one of the things that we also see through the cyber tip line and through our role as the receiving the missing child reports and the exploited child reports is the intersection of these crimes every day. So, for example, a familial trafficking situation that is involving a prepubescent child, I have not seen a case like that, that did not involve the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. So, while on our end, we may see the evidence of that in terms of the CSAM, when we do the analytical workup, we get that information back out to law enforcement, that when they look into it, it could be connected to a larger trafficking ring.
We know that every day non familial traffickers are taking images of young teens and older teens. And then using those images to put up on websites like the online escort sites, or social media to advertise and sell children. What we oftentimes don't see is that viewed as child sexual abuse material, so we're not seeing it investigated by law enforcement in the same way. And we're also not seeing electronic service providers more aggressively take that stuff down off of their platforms.
And even when they're made of -- made aware of the fact that it's a minor, either through law enforcement or from the youth reaching out themselves, they're not aggressively taking that imagery down as quickly. And the other thing that we are often seeing or hearing stories about is situations that look like sextortion at the beginning, but once those images are obtained, then they are used to coerce and control and exploit a child into being involved in commercial sex. We see that a lot in the gaming community. And we especially see that a lot with boys. So, again, we're seeing the intersectionality of all of these issues. We're seeing the ways that tech is playing a crucial role in the identification in certain areas like child sexual abuse material, but we're seeing significant ways where there is room for improvement and advancement, especially as it relates to trafficking.
>> Katherine Chon: Thank you, Melissa. So, Tina, as you've heard about the numbers in the scale of reports, what resonates with you, and what do you think of the numbers -- what story are the numbers not telling? >> Tina Frundt: Thank you. I appreciate that. And don't worry, I got props for later we going to learn a little something today.
So, let me first explain Courtney’s House. So, Courtney’s House is the only African American run direct services survivor run in this area. So, I'm a survivor of child sex trafficking.
So, there are a few things I always think it's interesting. One, you know, because I made 22, yesterday. And people usually say, you know, working with the youth population, ages that Courtney's House is now its nine to 24, with the average age of like, 11 to about 19 at Courtney’s House, both male and females, LGBTQIA and trans youth. So, what I normally hear is this. "Well, you know, Tina, trafficking has changed so much 1000 years ago when you were in the light, so I'm pretty sure it's super difficult for you all to see because things have changed so much".
And then I say this. Now look for me, and I'm telling you what I feel and see it hasn't changed for me. And let me explain why it hasn't changed.
Okay? Come on with the claps in the back. Come on. [applause] Because the reason why to me it hasn't changed is this. So, 100 years ago, there used to be these, like, let's say magazines, they were in Chicago -- I can’t say Chi Town. Chi Town. It was Chicago, it was in D.C., it was New York, L.A. Now, you had these magazines, you
pick them up that's on the corner, and they were children, adults, and they were naked. And you would purchase a child so a man would call a number. And lo and behold, that child or adult would show up with a pound to your door. So, it's the same exact thing. So, we do it online. And what I read and read first it used to be the roses and then the hearts those are all the same things that was in those same magazines 100 years ago, same exact thing, same wording, the same flowers.
So, when you think of crime, I just need you to think of something. When you think of crime and that can be free cars, stealing cars. They steal cars the same way they steal cars in Thailand that they steal cars in D.C. It’s not different guys. So, trafficking, that very tool that was used on the streets just became that whole platform online. Now let's talk about what we see at Courtney’s House, and what tools we see online.
So, I want to say, five, six years ago, right? People were heavily on Backpages. Heavily shutting it down. We need this to happen. I did believe it needed to be shut down. And there was so many people being trafficked, and a lot of survivors helped with that. I was not part of that cause, I was part of the cause kept saying, "What about Instagram guys? Hey, guys, hi.
It's new. Facebook, Instagram, guys. Hi, guys." And everyone said "Not now, Tina, we’re going to focus on this, this is what we're going to focus on. Not going to focus on that." When it becomes an issue, we'll focus on that.
So, I think that's been the traditional issue. The issue is it’s the internet. So, I don't know why we don't think it's about to come up like they did in using it for the Canada or just use it to another site. I don't know why. But we're like, no, let's not do that.
And so, what happened is 100 percent of our youth are being trafficked on Instagram. So, let's talk about what that looks like. And I won't want to talk about what it looks like for the boys and what it looks like for the girls. No, I want to talk about what it looks like for family-controlled trafficking. What it looks like for pimp control trafficking. What it looks like for gang control.
See, we don't hear that. Most people just know about pimp control. So, when Oregon -- like when Instagram and Courtney's House has been meeting with Instagram for three years, one day, they're going to give them some money. But anyway, I digress. So, with meeting with them for three years, I'm going to tell you what I found out, and how much they actually know on the ground, and what trafficking looks like. Oh, they don’t know shit.
But what they do know is this. So, when you go online, the way youth are trafficked, that are African American, are opposite than the way you are traffic that's Caucasian. So, Instagram uses this model that they told us about and that model was this, y'all remember the show “To Catch a Predator?” Okay, so Instagram pretends, sometimes to be like a youth to say, "Hi, I used to go to school with you, oh, my God." And then it's like, "Hey, you want to do this?" And they do catch people.
They catched over 5000 images, so they definitely catch people. None of them were African American. I said none. 5000 images, none were African American.
So, let's talk about why. The why is this, I just said youth are trafficked differently. So, that image of okay, the catch, you know, a predator does work for that population, African Americans, unfortunately, African American, and Hispanic population, apparently, at five and nine years old, we're grown. And it looks like we're grown.
And you know that because you could turn on the TV and see that that's an easy thing to see. And so, what I found out was that they told me things like this, "oh, you know what, Tina, we don't pull them down because we can't tell their age". But I work with partners, and I worked on this story that we did for two years. And those reporters knew immediately they were 12 and 11 and 13.
So, that was interesting. So, I want you to see that piece. So, for us, I want you all to take out your IG Instagram, or I'm going to teach you today, so you don't need it. If you don't have it, you don't need it.
You need me. So, on our Official Courtney's House website, I posted a story. I want you to know that when you go on Instagram -- y’all see that? There is a story image for stories all the way up. You know, if you're a little older like me, child, maybe you don't push on them.
I only do stories so not me. So, a lot of people don't push on those stories. That's important because most of the youth actually -- and I only need two minutes, I got you. Most of the youth actually do not post on their regular stories like adults, they don't do that.
So, I made a message for y'all on here. I did this cute little message that I was going to do this, a whole bunch of our kids liked it. So, I love that.
But more importantly, our youth are trafficked on the stories. So, they are naked, and you can put five hours, you could put 12, you could put 24. And then they disappear from the story. The next piece to the story that you need to know is what a live is. What a live, how do you find a live. Well, you go in, like you're going to make an IG story.
And then you're going to push on and you're going to do a live. And now why that's important to do to live is 100 percent of our youth are trafficked online. So, what happens is this. Yesterday in court, one of our youths who's 12 years old, for court, she's in foster care, was fully naked.
There was a man in the background who was not in the camera. And he was telling her to perform acts on herself and people can Cash App and pay through the app. One of the siblings saw, was able to show the team, we follow all the kids anyway, so we were able to also let people know what was going on. But quickly, within a couple of minutes, the story was shut down and deleted. So, how are you for being in traffic are on stories are on lives 100 percent fully naked, multiple people sometimes having sex with them, you pay during Cash App. 100 percent of all of our youth at Courtney's House, both male and females, men who by sex go into their DMs, they don't ask them, they don't solicit it.
They send penis pics to all of our youth who are 10, 11, 12. And they say "hey, how about you just send me a cute picture of your face? I'll Cash App you $25. Hey, just sent me a picture of your chest.
I mean, not with your bra off, just of your chest. I’ll Cash App you $35." So, the Caucasian survivors are not experiencing the same type of that are younger youth who are being trafficked.
And I want you to think about it because some say this ridiculousness, all they have got to do is block them. Why don't they just block them? Well, if you're homeless or don't have no food or living in a house where you have got to feed everybody. In your head you say "I'm going to go online and find a picture of some titties that ain’t mine and I'm going to send it so my family can eat". And then it gets different. And that's why they target African American youth and Hispanic youth.
And they scroll down, and they watch them. Because unfortunately, kids post everything. So, they post all the stories, they watched all their lives, and they know how to manipulate them. So, sadly, I'll end with this. In that article, you will find one of our youth who was with us for a number of years, since she was 12 years old.
And what happened with Jayla was this. Unfortunately, being a child, the issue actually wasn't the pimp at all. It was a 46-year-old man trick that her mother went down to the police and so did we and told them numerous times what was going on, not the sex trafficking unit.
It was the missing unit in D.C. and the missing unit said "Well, she just turned 16. So, she consented". So, I had to go to them and teach them what trafficking is because the 16-year-old can't consent to the grown man who's buying sex. No one listened.
And unfortunately, this man gave her drugs laced with fentanyl. And killed her at 16. All her images was online.
It was never taken down. We went and her mother went who had a good mother. She's a wonderful mother and couldn't get her images down from Instagram at all. So, I just want you all to look at this in a different way of what's been happening on the ground. How do we determine it's not enough to say, "okay, it's happening online and how but what does it look like when it is family putting the child and being sold online and what does it look like when it is gained?" So, what's the difference in the best of us ways to approach it and train Instagram that working with survivors will be the only way that you would know how to determine this to help more youth. So, we don't have to continually bury them.
[applause] >> Katherine Chon: Thank you, Tina. So many sobering stories laced throughout some of what you shared with us. I'm so sorry for the loss. I'm so sorry -- this is why we're talking about prevention of the systemic changes that needs to happen. Your words are just staying with me.
Adrian, I want to ask you, based on what you heard from Melissa, the experiences of children and youth and their families, even in organizations trying to get material off -- abusive material off what are your thoughts and reflections? >> Adrian Moen: It is extremely difficult to get images off. It's not easy, you have to go through different channels, you have to jump through hoops, you have to find the right people, often resources are not out there to -- for these people to how to even attempt to get images taken off. >> Katherine Chon: And then so many of us store -- the data so far has been around children and youth, do you have any perspectives in regards to how adults are engaging in with technology differently to stay safe from online abuse and harassment. >> Adrian Moen: I just watch out for the warning signs. I have a 13-year-old daughter, so I try to stay vigilant on with her as she is an African American.
And so, it's very concerning when I see different text messages or things that will pop up and I try to explain to her, it's very -- it's not -- sorry. >> Katherine Chon: I feel you [laughs] because there's -- like I feel a lot of anger -- at least within myself just anger at the scale of exploitation. And you have -- >> Adrian Moen: A lot of these tech companies I just want to add too, is that they say that they have facilitated to where they are wanting to get this stuff taken off, but they really don't. And it's time for them to be held accountable, and them to really -- and change sextant -- Section 230, which is -- it hasn't been reformed since 1997. And it's -- it needs to be for them to -- sorry, I'm just super nervous.
Just to hold these tech accountable -- hold these tech accountability -- these tech companies accountable. Because that is where -- that's where it leads to, the tech companies, it leads to them, and they need to be held accountable. And they need to do something about this. [applause] >> Katherine Chon: So, we're talking about accountability.
And this is a summit -- or regarding prevention. Ideally, those images, videos, the inducement tactics, this, all those schemes and manipulation shouldn't be happening in the first place. I'll come back to you, Melissa, what resources and we can kind of go through for as anyone who is impacted by this intersection of technology and human trafficking, what resources are currently available and where are there gaps for whether it's survivors or family members, loved ones, service providers, who want to see more action? >> Melissa Snow: Yes, absolutely.
So, a couple things come to mind. First, online safety is child sex trafficking prevention. And so, the earlier we can start those conversations, the earlier we can equip parents and foster parents and teachers and have these conversations early and ongoing.
And very much make the conversation about when this happens, right? Not any of the fear tactics, or don't do this, don't put your pictures online. Don't share this. The reality is when we talk to young people that this is stuff that is ongoing. It's the experiences that they're having every day online. And so, we have to build that muscle memory around, you know, what happens? What can you do when this happens? What are your rights around this? And also, what are the resources available? So, in general, just a couple of resources if you're not familiar with netsmarts.org,
it is a resource from the National Center. And it has a ton of stuff on there for young people as well as from parents and teachers. So, please check that out and share it broadly. Also regarding, I would definitely encourage everybody to pull out your phone, go to cybertipline.org, save it to your homepage, bookmark it, whatever that is, share it with young people, one of the things that we do know is that when we equip young people with what to do when something happens, they then will, they're empowered to use it.
And so, we see when young people would know about the cyber tip line when they can trust what is going to happen with that information. We see reports from young people increase, and we're doing a huge overhaul of the cyber tip line with feedback from young people with -- from survivors, that is making it much more accessible. So, what you see now is going to be a complete overhaul in the next few months. The other thing is related to what has been shared about the challenges around taking images down.
So, we just launched a resource called Take it Down. It is a resource for minors, specifically, it's takeitdown.org. And it is for self-produced content.
So, self-produced explicit content, let's say young person has taken these images either coerced or on their own. And they now want to make sure, say they shared it with friends, they shared it with somebody they trusted, maybe they know it's out there now. Or maybe they're just worried because that person seems a little sketchy now. Well, they can actually go into the site, the image never leaves their phone, a hash value gets assigned to that image. And then that hash value is shared with a variety of different social media sites.
So, TikTok, snap, Facebook, Instagram, Only Fans, Pornhub. That hash value then now goes out to that site and constantly runs in the background of their algorithms to immediately and automatically take that image down if it ever hits their servers. So, what we're trying to do is eliminate -- A, give power back to young people, and also make sure that the idea that once it's out there it’s always out there. We are breaking that perception through this process. So, those are two or three resources, actually, that I hope are empowering and helpful in the conversations you're having and the work that you're doing.
[applause] >> Katherine Chon: Tina, any additional thoughts on resources or what action -- >> Tina Frundt: Sorry [laughs]. Yes. Okay, so I got to talk all soft like. So, I will say this. So, Courtney’s House has a documentary coming out.
We did it with the Guardian, we never show our youth faces. So, it's going to be cartoon like, but this is them talking about trafficking and to other youth about the signs and what the real signs and what it actually sounds like to other youth, right. And then I'm doing a piece on there because all my friends have me talk to their kids. So, I'm going to give a really quick one-word tip for you. When you want to talk to your kids about this, please do not say "because there's a lot of trafficking that's all happening online, it’s a lot, because they will kidnap you, they will. You don't want to be stolen to be trafficked to [unintelligible] on stuff on Instagram".
Like no y'all. So, then how to have a conversation with youth where they're actually going to hear what you're saying. So, that means you need to educate yourself first, I need you to go through the sites, go to the things your kids follow and follow it on yours and listen to their TikTok’s and lives, so you can hear the information that are coming to your youth. So, I really encourage you and I don't want to hear I'm old I have too many things to do. It's a lot of time, I have to educate.
If we want to keep our you safe, well then hey, do the work. [applause] >> Adrian Moen: To bounce off what Tina said it's just staying on top of your children and really keeping an eye on what they're viewing, what -- you know who they're following, and just really be diligent on you know, and really just trying to educate them on what can happen. Like Tina said, don't go saying that you're going to get kidnapped because that's not always how it happens because it's the grooming process, how it really starts. So, it's really staying on top of that.
>> Katherine Chon: All right. This has been a really hard conversation to take. Sometimes it's easier to be abstract with the numbers. And what was shared on the panel, the real lives, the families, the struggles, the challenges, the pain points. I know together, we've been together all day. There's a lot of energy in this room, a lot to be inspired by of things that we've heard.
And -- but it's also been hard, a lot of stories of all the different facets of human trafficking. So, first, I want to thank this panel for closing us out bringing a sense of reality to what the experiences are. [applause] So, thank you, Melissa, Tina, Adrian. I wanted to -- so on this note of if you have, if you just need some time, some space, some peer to peer connection, I wanted you to know that if you have lived experience, and I want to use the space in the wellness room on the 14th floor, there's -- if you look in your programs, there's a map to that, know that you can decompress with other peers, and that space will be available. Oh, one moment. And then I'm also in terms of peer-to-peer connections.
Just another housekeeping note from 10:00 to 11:00 tomorrow morning during the workshop time, Tanya Gould a survivor leader and other survivor leaders, I believe have self-organize, mobilized and they're offering to lead a survivors-only conversation in the Jefferson room. So, we will make another -- well, I don't think we'll be together before that time. So, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Jefferson room for Survivor leaders and individuals with
lived experience to connect. I'll dismiss this panel and then also welcome honorable Marlene Carson to the stage to give our closing reflecting remarks. And I know there’s a comment we will have another interactive session tomorrow where for anyone with comments on reflections of any part of today we will welcome that tomorrow morning -- or tomorrow afternoon.
>> Marlene Carson: I'm going to interrupt you, right. You can come and get the microphone. If you’re going to do this, you might as well do it with a mic. And you got two minutes seriously. I'm going to have them cut it off at two minutes. >> Female Speaker: Society has a moral and ethical duty to protect the most vulnerable, our children.
Children cannot be sacrificed for profits as we have seen in the social experiment on our youth for social media. As the Surgeon General pointed out in his advisory just published, our children are in trouble. My research in my lived experiences also mirrored these concerns. I have been an advocate for change and social reform in the technology space. As used as a communications platform, a platform to communicate hate and misinformation, which is negatively impacting our youth through depression, suicide, body image disturbances, disordered eating, anxiety, self-mutilation, substance use, comparison syndrome, Fear of Missing Out, fobbing, and suicide.
Social media specifically is molding a generation in a negative manner and contributing to its demise, creating addiction and a mental health crisis much like we see in the current opioid pandemic today. What can we learn from history? During the Industrial Revolution safeguards were put in place to protect children. Automobile manufacturers put the safeguards in place, recognizing they had created a product with advances in technology that were causing irrefutable harm with high-speed crashes and thus needed to protect the American public. We are there now with social media platforms and interactive computer services. When CDA 230 was adopted in response to two lawsuits, lawmakers had a choice. Do we prioritize people over profits? Or do we prioritize profits over people? They chose the latter causing irrefutable harm to children and parents and caregivers as they struggled to find closure from traumatic experiences and financial relief.
To stem the flow of lawsuits and advanced technology in the economy, lawmakers acted and put a clause in to protect technology companies from civil recourse known as CDA 230, they had a choice then and members of Congress, you have a choice today. Do they ignore the irrefutable evidence of the harm placed in front of them and pass -- and refuse to pass legislation to stem the flow of the damage being perpetrated against society and the world by passing laws that protect the rich and powerful that destroy the poor, that protects technology companies? Or do we say enough is enough? Do we send a message that America is a beacon of light on a dark hill and the children of America will be protected thus ensuring [inaudible]. A society [inaudible] the voices of our children because they have been brainwashed or [inaudible] depression or suicide is a society that will 100 percent fall in face of [inaudible] -- >> Marlene Carson: Sweetheart, that’s time. >> Female Speaker: This is the last thing. Today, the decision insures that evidence [inaudible] -- >> Marlene Carson: Yeah, that’s time.
>> Female Speaker: [Inaudible] Congress empower their [unintelligible] vote. For today I speak to them and to their conscious and what their heart is telling them must be done and [inaudible] -- >> Tina Frundt: And thank you. And we appreciate that.
We only have a few minutes. Thank you so much. Let's all give a round of hands. [applause] Thank you for speaking. We appreciate you.
Thank you for that. Thank you very much. [applause] >> Marlene Carson: So, let me say this, there is a time and place for everything. And -- no, what's your name? Tammy.
I'm Marlene, let me shake your hand. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. But let me say this to you, Tammy. There's a right order and a right way to do everything. We should have asked permission.
So -- did you ask the right person? >> Female Speaker: I am a survivor. >> Marlene Carson: I get that, baby, I'm a survivor too. But the reality of it is, it's a time and place for everything. And we have to do things decently and in order.
All right. Okay, now we're going to go to the closing remarks. Well, the first thing I want to say is that panel wrecked me. Okay. So, I have a whirlwind of emotions right now. Thank God, I wrote these closing remarks before I heard that panel.
So, I’m going to stick with that. But thank you all for what you do. On behalf of the U.S. Advisory Council on trafficking, we would like to thank HHS for their critical role that you play in combating human trafficking and the pathways to its needed prevention. Today's speakers and panels have been extraordinary.
Dr. James Mercy from the CDC, as he discussed impact points. This was later followed by an extraordinary panel’s perspective on Human Trafficking Prevention within migrant workers communities, which expose to us all the more need for legislation. This and the breakout session -- I am actually mad if y'all can hear it in my voice.
I'm really trying to get through this. So, y'all just bear with me. [applause] Yeah. This and the breakout sessions on the faith community, and others well rounded out our day with intelligence, passion, and calls to action.
Today, we acknowledge and commend the survivors who bravely shared their experiences contributing to the prevention summit success. Your courage and resilience inspire us to keep fighting against this injustice. We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to HHS, for organizing this summit and for your unwavering dedication to protecting vulnerable individuals and educating on preventing human trafficking. Finally, and I really had more to say but I'm going to say finally, as we depart from day one of the summit let us carry a sacred promise in our hearts to be the guardians of change, advocates of justice and protectors of the innocent. We hold the power to help us, survivors, rewrite our stories and reclaim their lives. God bless you all.
[applause] >> Female Speaker: Produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
2023-08-12 23:44
