Latest news with #TakeItDownAct
USA Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Online sexual abuse of kids is getting worse. But vigilantes aren't the answer.
Online sexual abuse of kids is getting worse. But vigilantes aren't the answer. | Opinion As technology evolves, so do predators. In addition to targeting kids on social media, they increasingly use artificial intelligence to generate explicit images from otherwise innocent photos. Show Caption Hide Caption Melania Trump pushes for 'Take It Down Act' Melania Trump spoke out in favor of legislation that would criminalize the publication of nonconsensual deepfake sexual images. The FBI recently announced that ithas launched more than 250 investigations into a loosely organized network of online predators who coerce minors into sharing sexually explicit images, acts of self-harm, the abuse of family pets and even suicide. Every one of the bureau's 55 field offices is handling a case related to the network − a disturbing sign of the growing scale and severity of child exploitation in the digital age. Predators no longer need to be physically close to harm a child. They can reach kids through social media and online games, from TikTok and Discord to Roblox. They masquerade as peers or romantic interests, gain the minors' trust and then manipulate and abuse them − whether they're in a neighboring town or halfway around the world. Kids are sexually exploited, abused online 10 times per second Efforts to protect children online are falling woefully short. Worldwide, children are sexually abused and exploited on the internet about 10 times per second. In the United States, the national CyberTipline, which tracks suspected online child exploitation, recorded a staggering 29.2 million reported incidents in 2024. That included more than 546,000 reports of "online enticement" of sexual acts − more than a dozen times the reports from 2021. As technology evolves, so do predators. In addition to targeting kids using social media, they're increasingly using artificial intelligence to generate explicit images from otherwise innocent photos of children. Law enforcement is struggling to keep pace. There aren't enough investigators and prosecutors to handle the volume and complexity of these digital crimes. In response, a growing community of self-styled "pedophile hunters" is emerging online. Some pose as minors on dating apps or social media platforms − and then confront or expose adults who message them. Others track their targets down in person and violently attack them while broadcasting the assault online. Opinion: I banned TikTok and other social media for my kids. And I don't regret it. According to a New York Times analysis, pedophile hunters have mounted more than 170 documented violent attacks since 2023. The videos have collectively attracted millions of views. In some cases, the targets have been misidentified. A YouTuber with more than 800,000 followers wrongly tagged an innocent 62-year-old man as a pedophile after reading a news story. The man subsequently received a barrage of death threats. The actual pedophile identified in the article was already in jail for his crimes. 'Pedophile hunters' add to the problem Vigilantes may believe they're administering justice. In reality, they're interfering with investigations, putting bystanders in danger and − if turning to violence − committing crimes themselves. Most important, vigilante violence does nothing to help children who are abused online. These kids don't need mob justice, but rather a stronger legal approach and more resources for law enforcement. Lawmakers have made some progress on this front. Opinion: Technology is terrible, but I gave my kid an iPhone anyway. I think it's OK. Congress recently passed the bipartisan Take It Down Act. It criminalizes the publication of intimate photos, including AI-generated ones, of someone without their consent. It also requires social media companies to remove such images within 48 hours of a victim's report. President Donald Trump signed it into law in May. The new law is only a start, however. Congress also needs to hold social media companies accountable for protecting kids. This includes requiring stricter age-verification measures, which could prevent adults from posing as minors and contacting children. Lawmakers also could require companies to actively monitor and remove child sexual abuse content from their platforms. Additionally, the PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act would modernize law enforcement's response to online child exploitation by boosting funding and resources for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program − the national network of federal, state and local law enforcement dedicated to investigating online child sexual abuse. With nearly half of U.S. police departments staffed by fewer than 10 officers, we need federal support if we're to keep pace with tech-savvy online predators. Vigilante violence won't deliver the justice children deserve. Real safety will come from strengthening law enforcement and making social media platforms safer. Teresa Huizar is CEO of Washington, DC-based National Children's Alliance, a network of nearly 1,000 children's advocacy centers, providing justice and healing through services to child victims of abuse and their families.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Meta takes AI firm behind ‘nudify' apps to court over ads on Facebook, Instagram
Meta has said it has filed a lawsuit against a Hong Kong-based company behind 'nudify' apps, as part of its broader crackdown on AI tools that let users generate fake sexually explicit images of individuals without their consent. The tech giant announced it has sued CrushAI app developer Joy Timeline HK Limited to prevent the company from advertising its products on Meta's platforms. 'This follows multiple attempts by Joy Timeline HK Limited to circumvent Meta's ad review process and continue placing these ads, after they were repeatedly removed for breaking our rules,' Meta said in a blog post published last week. The Facebook parent also said it has developed a new AI system capable of finding, detecting, and taking down ads for nudify apps and websites on its platforms more quickly. 'We've worked with external experts and our own specialist teams to expand the list of safety-related terms, phrases and emojis that our systems are trained to detect within these ads,' it said. 'We've also applied the tactics we use to disrupt networks of coordinated inauthentic activity to find and remove networks of accounts operating these ads,' Meta added. The move comes amid a surge in AI-powered 'nudify' apps on the internet. These apps use generative AI to turn full-clothed images into realistic nude images of victims. Reports have previously suggested that students learn about these nudify apps or websites through ads on Instagram and other social media platforms. In addition, Meta's announcement comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed the landmark Take It Down Act into law. The new legislation makes it illegal to to share explicit images of individuals without their consent. Revenge porn as well as fake AI-generated sexual images are also covered under the scope of the new act. Meta said that over the past six months, its 'expert teams' have taken down four separate networks of accounts that sought to run ads promoting nudify apps on its platforms. It also revealed that the bad actors behind these apps would evolve their tactics to avoid detection. 'For example, some use benign imagery in their ads to avoid being caught by our nudity detection technology, while others quickly create new domain names to replace the websites we block,' Meta said. The company further re-emphasised that its updated policies do not allow the promotion of nudify apps or similar services on its platforms. It also restricts search terms such as 'nudify', 'undress', and 'delete clothing' on Facebook and Instagram so they don't show results. Meta said it will start sharing information like URLs in order to enable other platforms to remove nudify-related content as well. So far, it has provided more than 3,800 URLs to tech companies that are part of the Tech Coalition's Lantern programme. This is in addition to the signals about violating child safety activity, including sextortion, that are already shared by Meta. The company finally said it will continue to support legislation that requires app stores like Google Play Store and Apple App Store to verify a user's age and, if the user is underage, obtain parental consent before downloading the app. Such legislation has intensified the clash between app store operators (like Google and Apple) and major social media platforms (such as Meta, X, and Snap) over who is responsible for the online safety of young users. Both Utah and Texas have adopted similar legislation that puts the burden of responsibility on app stores.
The Star
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Taking down the online degradation
WHEN the United States passed the Take It Down Act recently, it was seen as a long overdue move to tackle the rise in 'deepfake porn' or artificial intelligence-generated non-consensual pornography. The law prohibits anyone from knowingly publishing non-consensual intimate content, whether deepfake or not, and as its namesake suggests, the law also requires social media platforms to take down any non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours upon a report or request from users. But the problem of deepfake porn is not limited to just the US; in recent years, Malaysia has seen a proliferation of AI-generated explicit content being posted online. It was previously reported that last year, the Malaysian Communication and Multi-media Commission (MCMC) removed 1,225 postings of explicit content generated by AI as of Dec 1 – a dramatic jump from 186 such cases just two years earlier in 2022. In April this year, news broke about a case involving artificially-generated obscene images of students in Johor, with Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching calling for stronger digital safety measures in schools in the aftermath. Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek issued a similar call this week as she urged for indecent social media pages to be taken down swiftly, following reports of a Facebook group circulating photos of underage students with sexually charged comments. Her comments came just days after the gazettement of the Online Safety Act (Onsa) 2025 – legislation which is meant to strengthen online protections and hold platforms more accountable. But while Onsa also introduces a takedown mechanism for harmful content, lawyers and women's rights advocates say its vague language and failure to explicitly cover non-consensual intimate content involving adults leave significant gaps in protection for survivors. Takedown limitations Make no mistake, Onsa is a timely update to Malaysia's digital safety laws because it also introduces a takedown mechanism, says Bar Council Cyber and Privacy Laws Committee head Sarah Yong. The mechanism in Onsa allows users, including victims of online sexual exploitation, to report harmful content directly to licensed social media platforms and the MCMC, she says. While Onsa considers any child sexual abuse material as 'priority harmful content', Yong says adults depicted in sexual abuse materials such as in deepfake porn may fall under other harmful content categories such as 'obscene' or 'indecent content'. However, lawyer Daniella Zulkifli points out that Onsa only imposes a duty on licensed service providers to establish a mechanism to make 'prioritised harmful content' inaccessible. As non-consensual intimate imagery such as deepfake porn involving adults is not included as 'priority harmful content', the takedown provision may not apply to it. 'We need to include non-consensual intimate content as priority harmful content given the nature of it and how damaging it is to someone. 'We do need to improve on our existing laws to allow for a swift takedown of non-consensual intimate content involving children as well as adults,' says Daniella. Other laws, such as the Sexual Offences Against Children Act, the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act, can cover non-consensual intimate content, she adds, but none of them compel online platforms to remove such content. Yong says Onsa is also limited when it involves foreign platforms that are not licensed in Malaysia. 'In this circumstance, the MCMC could instruct a licensed network service provider to restrict the relevant parts of its network service.' While this would technically cause the content to be inaccessible to all users of the network, Yong says there are ways to circumvent this. Survivor-centric approach While Onsa serves its purpose of monitoring and regulating content to a certain extent, Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) advocacy officer Tamyra Selvarajan critiques it for having vague language and failing to address underlying issues such as transparency and accountability. She also points out that the provisions in Onsa are heavily fixated on content moderation, which she says is not the issue at hand. 'Rather, it is the design of the platform and the lack of user education.' It is also important to note that deepfake porn is a matter that disproportionately affects women and marginalised communities, says Selvarajan, making this both a digital safety issue and a gender issue. 'There is still a fundamental need to ensure that these authorities are used in a transparent, rights-respecting and gender-inclusive manner,' she says. Thus, for Malaysia to emulate a law like the Take It Down Act in the US, she says there is a lot to be considered. 'Firstly, there needs to be a survivor-centric approach when it comes to reporting and taking down such content while also safeguarding freedom of expression and privacy.' This should include survivor- sensitive processes built into the system, Selvarajan says. 'When implementing such policies, intersectionalities such as ethnicity, class and, of course, a woman's standing must be taken into account.' But Selvarajan warns that though the Take It Down Act is 'somewhat of a win' for Trump's administration, it has been criticised for being vague and overbroad. Daniella also points out that freedom of speech advocates have flagged the law as lacking critical safeguards against misuse. 'We should take note of the same.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Melania Shuns Trump's Attempt at Shameless Flattery at White House Picnic
Melania Trump smiled in her trademark silence after husband Donald Trump joked she could replace him as president. The pair appeared together for the second day running, hosting the annual White House congressional picnic on Thursday. The happy couple also walked the red carpet at the opening night of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday night, where the first lady was also of few words. Addressing the crowd of Republican lawmakers from the White House overlooking the south lawn, Trump listed off his various work achievements and even he found time to praise his wife's political skills. Melania has backed the 'Take It Down Act', which makes posting real or AI- generated deepfake explicit sexual imagery online of people without their consent illegal. It cleared the lower chamber in April, after being passed by the Senate in February. Trump praised 'our great first lady' for the fact that the revenge porn bill was passed on a bipartisan basis, joking it could set her up for a political career. 'I want to thank you Melania,' Trump said. 'When I saw that bill pass, bipartisan, I said, 'You know, I think you're gonna take my job Melania'... we don't get so much bipartisan.' He continued, 'She didn't know why, she said `Why is that?' I said, 'There is no reason for it, but you did it, congratulations it's a great job.'' Melania smiled, nodded and clap as she let her husband speak for her. Last month, Melania warned that AI and social media were 'digital candy' for the next generation. She warned they are 'sweet, addictive and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children. She added 'these new technologies can be weaponized, shape beliefs and, sadly, affect emotions and even be deadly.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Says Melania Trump Pulled Off 1 Thing He Never Could
President Donald Trump on Thursday made a rare admission, that someone had succeeded where he often struggles. That someone was his wife, first lady Melania Trump. And her success? In gaining bipartisan support to help pass the 'Take It Down' Act, which he signed into law last month. The president, whose frequent combative rhetoric is hardly conducive to cross-party collaboration, thanked and praised his wife during remarks at the annual White House congressional picnic. 'When I saw that bill pass — bipartisan — I said, 'You know, I think you're gonna take my job, Melania… we don't get so much bipartisan so…' She didn't know why. She said, 'Why is that?' I said, 'There is no reason for it, but you did it.' Congratulations. That's a great job.'' The act seeks to protect victims of digital exploitation via harsher penalties for spreading so-called 'revenge porn' and nonconsensual deepfakes. Watch from the 4:45 point here: MAGA Boxer Ryan Garcia Punches Back At Trump: 'I Can't Stay Silent…' Lawrence O'Donnell Nails Exact Moment A Massive Trump Fantasy Collapsed Canadian Politician Reveals How 'Gangster' Trump's Imminent Visit Has Triggered Alarm
