The issues of pornography, child sexual abuse, and sex trafficking have merged in online spaces and—aided, fueled by, and providing profits to Big Tech, the Commercial Sex Industry, and even the government—it has created a crisis of disturbing proportions.
Technology companies and social media platforms are some of the most prolific distributors of sexual exploitation material in the world—including material soliciting, advancing, and depicting human trafficking as well as material depicting the sexual abuse of children.
Prostitution schemes—such as Nevada’s and the way it is promoted and advertised—conflicts with tough federal laws that ban sex trafficking. The pornography industry and its massive profits are built upon sexual objectification, abuse, trafficking, and exploitation of all kinds. The corporations who own sites like Pornhub, XVideos, XHamster, and more know they are rife with child sexual abuse material, rape, racism, and myriad other forms of exploitative and criminal material.
The road to having the biggest and swiftest impact on dismantling the online exploitation industry is lawsuits. Litigation has been a linchpin for the movements to combat smoking, opioids, and more. The same is true for the movement to end sexual exploitation.
@endexploitation More info about the NCOSE Law Center linked in our bio! 🌟#endexploitation #law #attorney #justice ♬ original sound – NCOSE
The NCOSE Law Center Helps Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Material and Child Sex Trafficking
John Doe #1 was just 13 years old when he was groomed and exploited by a predator via social media. He was only 16 years old when he discovered that his abusers had uploaded child sexual abuse material of him and John Doe #2 to Twitter. Even with his parents’ involvement, Twitter refused to remove the material from its platform as it racked up over 167,000 views before someone from the Department of Homeland Security stepped in on their behalf.
The story of John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 in our lawsuit against Twitter is a case-in-point example of how tech platforms have knowingly allowed child sexual abuse material to circulate on their platforms and, as such, enabled and profited from the online sex trafficking of a child. Tragically, Twitter’s so-called “Zero Tolerance Policy” appears to be mere words when it comes to the sexual exploitation of minors such as Doe and others. It’s obvious that Twitter cares more about its profit margins than it does about protecting children online.
Twitter continues to enable abuse while profiting from the exploitation of children. That cannot be allowed to continue, and you can be a part of justice being realized for these young men and others like them.
The NCOSE Law Center Helps Victims of Image-Based Sexual Abuse
Nine young women, all members of a college field hockey team, suffered tremendous abuse when they were filmed changing while in a visiting locker room. Their lawsuit, Does 1-9 v Murphy et al., exposes how, allegedly, the intramural/summer conference director of a college in South Carolina placed a hidden “spy camera” in a locker room and secretly filmed the women in all stages of undress before uploading the video footage to notorious pornography “tube” sites Pornhub and XHamster.
Neither website bothered to verify the age or consent of the women in the videos—which were labeled as “spy cam” and “hidden cam” videos—and instead monetized the women’s abuse. “Spy cam,” “Hidden camera,” and “Voyeur” are extremely popular genres. They were official categories and tags on Pornhub at the time, and they continue to be active on XHamster today. In this case, both platforms capitalized on these categories of videos which eroticized the violation of women’s privacy.
The NCOSE Law Center joined the lawsuit to continue to seek justice for individuals who are victims of image-based sexual abuse, and because companies like XHamster and Pornhub need to be held accountable.
The NCOSE Law Center Fights Against Sex Trafficking Where It is De Facto Legalized via Prostitution
Plaintiff Jane Doe #1 was sex trafficked in Nevada by multiple pimps, including one that forced her to engage in street prostitution in Las Vegas. Doe was also exploited in the legal Nevada Chicken Ranch. Doe was subjected to debt bondage while prostituted at the Chicken Ranch, while under the control of other pimps.
Plaintiff Jane Doe #2 was sex trafficked in Nevada through legal strip clubs, including the Sapphire Gentleman’s Club (dubbed as the “world’s biggest gentleman’s club”). Doe’s pimps/sex traffickers employed force, fraud, and coercion to induce Jane Doe #2 into prostitution at Sapphire. Further, she was subjected to fraud and coercion from the Sapphire business itself, which employed a system of fees and tipping that caused her to remain indebted to them.
Plaintiff Angela Williams was sex trafficked in Nevada through legal escort businesses. As a child, Ms. Williams was groomed by a sex trafficker who became the first of many to sell her to commercial sex buyers. After being trafficked in Houston, she was then exploited by VIP Entertainment, a Las Vegas-based licensed escort business owned by Jamal Rashid. Rashid is currently serving a federal sentence for unlawfully owning and operating a prostitution business. Ms. Williams was trafficked in Nevada from 2006 to 2017.
The right to be free from slavery is a basic human right that Nevada denies many. As explained in a lawsuit brought on their behalf by the NCOSE Law Center and its accomplished allies, the experiences of plaintiffs Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2, and Angela Williams are not isolated. Women are sexually exploited for profit in Nevada on a daily basis and the state both normalizes and profits from that reality. As the demand of commercial sex buyers is so strong, the state’s annual profits from the commercial sex trade are estimated to be around $5 billion.
The NCOSE Law Center Exists to Help Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
At the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center, we are passionate about championing the rights of survivors. We strive to bring cases that will help shape and set precedents which will make the world a better and safer place. We encourage anyone who wonders if they might have a case to reach out to our attorneys today.
How You Can Help the NCOSE Law Center Realize Justice for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
1. Share the NCOSE Law Center video on social media
2. Tell survivors about the lawsuits
- Visit our lawsuits page to 1) see active lawsuits that survivors might have the opportunity to join and/or 2) to connect with our lawyers about a potential case.
3. Help us raise $130,000 so we can file four more lawsuits over the next year
- Your donation will go a long way towards realizing justice for survivors
