Now that we’re halfway through 2021, we’d like to look at all you’ve helped us accomplish so far this year.
We’ve made strides in courts, legislation, and corporations. We filed five lawsuits to achieve justice for those harmed, and accountability for those responsible, and have had policy victories in Louisiana, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont! The annual NCOSE “Dirty Dozen” List, a tool to effect positive change with major corporate entities, has had Corporate Advocacy wins this year already- including changes to Discord, Amazon, Instagram, TikTok and more.
Leading the battle to dismantle the sexual exploitation industry
In September 2020, NCOSE, on behalf of a victim, launched its first lawsuit against the trafficker, the pornography production company and the online websites hosting the videos of her abuse. The strategy was to bring to light the rampant and extensive abuse and exploitation of children and adults that is accelerating with the complicit participation of social media platforms and the sexual exploitation industry. In the same way that the deceit of the smoking industry was exposed by litigation, NCOSE is continuing to file cases and deliver legislation and policy to achieve justice for those harmed, and accountability for those responsible.
- December 15, 2020 Lawsuit filed in the U.S. District court of Southern California against MindGeek, on behalf of 40 sex trafficked women.
- January 20, 2021 Lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California against Twitter, on behalf of a minor harmed by the distribution of material depicting his sexual abuse.
- February 12, 2021 Class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern Alabama against MindGeek, on behalf of two trafficked and raped children.
- February 19, 2021 Class action lawsuit filed in Montreal, Quebec against the MindGeek entities, including Pornhub, seeking damages on behalf of all persons who, since 2007, had videos or photos posted without their consent to a website owned or operated by one of the MindGeek entities.
- February 22, 2021 Class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Central California against MindGeek on behalf of a single trafficked and raped child.
- March 5, 2021 Despite significant opposition from Big Tech, the Utah State Legislature passed a NCOSE-authored law that requires manufacturers of smartphones and tablets activated in the state for users under age 18 to, by default, turn on the existing, built-in parental controls that block out sexually explicit material. The bill was subsequently signed into law by Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
- March 18, 2021 Class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Central California against XVideos and its parent group, WebGroup Czech Republic, for selling, publishing and distributing the video of a 14-year-old girl on its platforms. XVideos boasts that it has 200 million daily visitors (three billion visitors per month) and six billion daily impressions on its various websites, making it the most frequently visited pornography website in the world, higher than Netflix, Amazon, and Wikipedia.
- April 8, 2021 NCOSE team members, along with allies and survivors, hosted a historic online briefing for Congress on how Pornhub and MindGeek facilitate and profit from sexual abuse and exploitation. We finally have Congress’ attention, along with law enforcement! More than 700 survivors and advocates from 70 countries called upon Congress to open criminal investigations into the online pornography sites. Over 2.2 million people signed a petition calling for Pornhub to be shut down for engaging in sex trafficking.
Impacting corporate and community culture
The annual NCOSE “Dirty Dozen” List has proven to be one of our most impactful tools to effect positive change with major corporate entities who either facilitate or actively promote and profit from sexual abuse and exploitation.
We’ve had some quick Corporate Advocacy wins already!
- Discord, a popular communications service with over 100 million active monthly users, announced key changes to the way they handle explicit content on their platform, which had a distinct lack of safety features.
- Amazon added the ability to set profiles restricting content for children and finally stopped the sale of full body sex dolls.
- Instagram announced that adults will no longer be able to directly message teenagers unless they have been approved as a “follower” of the young person.
- TikTok also announced several enhanced privacy and safety settings for minors, making it more difficult for children to be groomed, sexually exploited, or abused through this extremely popular platform.
- Comcast removed all MindGeek pornographic content from its service!
- Mastercard implemented new rules on processing payments to websites—requiring age, identity and consent verification and documentation.
Stopping the increase of trafficking
Pro-exploitation forces are trying to normalize and grow the sex trade with lies and legislation. They want to legalize pimping, brothel-keeping, and sex-buying. As their efforts for “decriminalization of prostitution” pop up in the US and around the world, NCOSE leads the activities and campaigns needed to hold the line and to not allow the sexual exploitation industry to explode.
Recently we’ve won in Oregon, Vermont, and Louisiana! We support eliminating criminal charges and penalties for victims of this industry, but not for the perpetrators!
Thank you for partnering with NCOSE to create a world free from sexual abuse and exploitation!
To read the full Report of all you have helped us accomplish, view our 2021 Mid-Year Impact Report.
