Fighting online exploitation of children
Homeland Security announces campaign; 36M reports last year
WASHINGTON – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says his office is ramping up efforts to fight the explosive increase in online sexual exploitation of children.
Highlighting the severity of the problem, Mayorkas noted that last year alone, there were over 36 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation and abuse. By comparison, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 1 million reports in 2014, before nearly 95% of youths between 13 and 17 reported using social media.
The volume of child sexual abuse material has increased globally by 87% over the past five years, according to the 2023 WeProtect Global Threat Assessment.
In exclusive interviews, Mayorkas and multiple Homeland Security officials, from a front-line agent in Tennessee to a top transnational organized crime-fighting supervisor − provided USA TODAY with shocking details of crimes being committed against kids.
Livestreamed sexual assaults and even rapes of young children. Predators grooming unsuspecting children on popular online gaming sites. Would-be molesters targeting their underage prey on social media and using geolocation apps to show up in person at their schools to meet them.
Some of the crimes are so violent and troubling, Mayorkas said, “I don’t think I should get into the specifics. Let me just say that it is beyond most people’s imagination.”
On Wednesday, Mayorkas announced the launch of Know2Protect, which he said was the first national public awareness campaign that brings together government and private sector partners focused on education about and prevention of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The new campaign’s mission, Mayorkas said, is to mobilize young people, parents, educators and community leaders to learn the signs of this crime in its many forms, what they can do to prevent it, how to report it to law enforcement and how they can support survivors.
“It is incumbent upon us and partners in communities across the country to raise the profile of this scourge, to raise awareness, to educate children who spend time online, their parents and trusted adults in their communities,” Mayorkas said, “so we can prevent harm from occurring, and importantly, also hold perpetrators accountable.”
Demonstrating their concern, Mayorkas and Homeland Security last year elevated child exploitation to one of six formal “mission sets” for the department, the first one added since 2010.
A multipronged assault
The new initiative has multiple fronts, including awareness campaigns, education programs in schools and community centers and collaboration with tech and gaming companies.
Together, they will provide parents, caregivers and children themselves with the tools they need “to turn their fear into awareness, vigilance and protection from the dark realities of online exploitation,” said Know2Protect campaign director Kate Kennedy.
Know2Protect aims to unify the many ongoing Homeland Security efforts to thwart online child sexual exploitation and abuse. It will be led by Homeland Security Investigations, with many internal and external partners.
“The online exploitation of children has become a global problem with devastating impacts on children around the world,” said Homeland Security Investigations executive associate director Katrina Berger. “The disruption of these heinous criminal enterprises that are producing and distributing child exploitation material online must be stopped. But law enforcement cannot do this alone.”
The Secret Service, part of Homeland Security, will join Know2Protect with its Childhood Smart Program, created in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, that educates parents, children and teens about internet and personal safety.
Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate will contribute expertise including leading-edge forensic tools and technologies to identify and thwart online predators.
The broad array of private-sector partners includes Google, Meta, Snap, Roblox, NASCAR, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Boy Scouts of America and the National Police Athletic League.
AI and extortion
Another focus of Know2Protect: the ominous trend of using artificial intelligence to generate child sexual exploitation material. The DHS officials said that becomes a gateway for predators who then move on to the abuse of reallife children.
Also on Know2Protect’s front burner: the skyrocketing incidence of what’s known as “financial sextortion” of minors. That’s when perpetrators overseas – especially in West Africa – pretend to be teenagers and persuade others on Instagram and other social media apps to share sexually explicit images of themselves.
“And as soon as they do that, the organized crime group will take a screenshot of all of this child’s contacts in their social media app and say we’re going to send these photos out to everyone if you don’t send us $500 or $1,000,” said Dennis Fetting, supervisory special agent at Homeland Security Investigations in Nashville.
He said some teens panic and pay. There has also been a sharp increase in teen suicide, the agent said, “especially these high school boys taking their lives because they view in their own juvenile mind that their life is over.”
One founding partner is Snap, which plans to share Know2Protect resources with the millions of teens who use its popular Snapchat app.
If you have information on missing or exploited children or teens, call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678 (800THE-LOST). If you are considering selfharm, please contact the national suicide and crisis lifeline by calling or texting 988.