Law Center
The Voice for Human Dignity in Our Courts and Legislatures
The NCOSE Law Center serves as the catalyst – in every way possible – for dozens and then hundreds of lawsuits against mainstream profiteers of sexual abuse and exploitation. Civil litigation is the most historically effective tactic to create change, just as it was a flood of litigation that ultimately brought down the tobacco industry.
The Law Center uses the law to shift social norms to respect human dignity, punish sexual exploiters, and give justice to survivors.
Help us to scale the winning strategy inflicting the most damage to evil abusers with a donation today.
We have laid a strong foundation upon which to build – already spurring nine trailblazing lawsuits against online platforms facilitating massive sexual exploitation. In addition, we are involved in a number of other lawsuits holding key industries such as hotels accountable. As co-counsel, NCOSE has filed the first class-action lawsuit against Pornhub, and its parent company MindGeek, for trafficking and child sexual abuse. We have also filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against Twitter for knowingly trafficking two young boys.
NCOSE Senior Counsel Dani Pinter Receives Award for Legal Advocacy
On International Woman’s Day 2024, NCOSE Senior Legal Counsel Dani Pinter Esq. was presented with an award at the 5th annual International Law Conference on the Status of Women. We are so proud of Dani and her incredible work advocating for justice on behalf of survivors! Watch Dani’s acceptance speech here.
Thank you for reaching out to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. While we are dedicated to the service of others by paving the way to a world free of exploitation, please know we do not provide direct services or crisis care, and we are not local or Federal law enforcement.
If you are facing an emergency, please immediately call 911.
Why The Law Center?
Since 2010, The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has been the leading voice in moving corporate profiteers and facilitators of sexual abuse and exploitation to change. We have seen major victories as giants like Google, Comcast, Delta, Amazon, Instagram, and even the Department of Defense have made changes to curtail their partnerships with sexual exploiters.
NCOSE has also been a force in our legislatures, helping to bring stronger laws and stop bad laws.
Despite the major progress, change remains too slow when…
- countless children are robbed of their innocence due to safety flaws ignored by Big Tech
- thousands of vulnerable individuals are sex trafficked or prostituted daily, leaving them to face immeasurable life-long trauma
- pornography has become the wallpaper of children’s lives and has deeply harmed individuals, families, and communities
- victims continue to suffer trauma and exploitation as recordings of their abuse are uploaded and traded on countless mainstream websites who in-turn profit from the worst experiences many survivors have every faced
Every other major movement seeing big progress is engaged in advocacy at the courts. Victims of sexual abuse and exploitation deserve at least some justice! Many of them also want systemic change!
In just its first few years, the NCOSE Law Center is spurring major culture changes! A movement of lawsuits is taking hold. We are winning in the courts. Nations are watching and introducing legislation to stem exploitation. Criminal investigations have finally started. Companies are making swift changes in order to avoid being next.
Our Cases
This case alleges that women on a college field hockey team were preyed upon by a man who secretly filmed them showering and changing in a locker room. That footage was uploaded to XHamster and Pornhub. Read the full complaint here.
A class action lawsuit was filed against XVideos and its parent company, WebGroup Czech Republic (WGCZ), for trafficking Jane Doe, a victim of child sexual abuse material (child pornography) and sex trafficking.
This case alleges that Twitter violated the federal sex trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591, et seq., failed to report child sexual abuse material, 18 U.S.C. § 2258A, and received and distributed child pornography, 18 U.S.C. § 2252A. Read the full complaint here.
Recently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of child-pornography and sex-trafficking claims brought by the NCOSE Law Center against Twitter, on behalf of survivors who were exploited on the platform as minors. The court ruled that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230) gives civil immunity to technology companies for child sexual abuse material—even though this was never Congress’s intention in passing CDA 230.
This decision was made in spite of the fact that Twitter confirmed in writing to the survivors that it reviewed the child sexual abuse material and had decided to leave it in place on the platform. This means Twitter knowingly possessed and broadly distributed the illegal material.
This ruling, while not the final outcome, highlights the urgent need to pass the EARN IT Act. The EARN IT Act clarifies that CDA 230 does not give technology companies immunity for knowingly facilitating the distribution of child sexual abuse material. For too long, CDA 230 has been misinterpreted by some courts, absolving tech companies of any accountability for their actions and robbing survivors of a path to justice.
Congress must send a clear, unambiguous message that CDA 230 does not give a free pass for child sexual abuse!
An accomplished assembly of survivor-focused and commercial litigation law firms have jointly filed a class action lawsuit against MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub.
Angela Williams and Jane Doe were sex trafficked due to Nevada’s system of legalized prostitution and are now seeking to hold the state of Nevada responsible for protecting the commercial sex trade and enabling sex slavery.
National Center on Sexual Exploitation has sued Wyndham Hotels, Super 8, Motel 6 for profiting from child sex trafficking. NCOSE also named Wyndham as one of their Dirty Dozen List entities in 2020. Read more about it here.
NCOSE Law Center files first ever anti-trafficking lawsuit against pornography producers on behalf of a survivor. Cissy Steele was using the internet to disguise herself as a talent agent from Royal Loyalty Management who was looking for models and actresses when she came across Jane Doe.
What Does The NCOSE Law Center Do?
- NCOSE Law Center seeks to obtain justice for survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation by hitting the major corporate profiteers of their abuse where it hurts them the most: by making them pay.
- NCOSE Law Center ensures survivor plaintiffs have the needed wrap-around services and support to proceed with lawsuits.
- NCOSE Law Center is launching and engaging in litigation to take down the porn and sex trafficking industry. The Law Center serves in a variety of roles, either as lead counsel, co- counsel, or sometimes behind the scenes matching clients with law firms or ghostwriting legal briefs for others. In some cases, we simply serve as facilitators.
- NCOSE Law Center assists our legislative policy team in advancing legislation that prevents harm and promotes healing.
Updates
How Can I Help?
In implementing our strategy over the last three years, we have created a prototype and proven that it can be successful. We are now the recognized subject matter experts in this area of the law. For example, we are reminded and encouraged that when Pornhub deleted more than 11 million videos from its platform a year ago, it publicly blamed NCOSE for its problems.
If our model is fully actualized and scaled up, we can destroy the online pornography and sex trafficking industries as they exist today. We have seen encouraging process in a very short time.
Threats & Opportunities
Enforcing Obscenity Laws
Most people are shocked to discover that Federal law prohibits the distribution of obscene (hardcore) adult pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops, through the mail, and by common carrier.
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld obscenity laws against First Amendment challenges, explaining that obscenity is not protected speech, similar to other forms of unprotected speech like blackmail, defamation, or child pornography.
Even so, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) refuses to enforce existing federal obscenity laws over fears that it will be unpopular.
Because obscenity laws have not been enforced, we have seen a dramatic rise in illegal pornography production and distribution in the last decade. The NCOSE Law Center is advocating in the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, and stop illegal pornography distribution.
A Childhood Free from Pornography
We believe children should be able to grow and learn about intimacy, relationships, and love without the devastating influence of pornography which eroticizes violence and warps neurological development.
That is why the NCOSE Law Center is pioneering tactics in order to:
- Promote State Resolutions and Laws – the public health harms of pornography are well documented in academic research, yet the majority of America does not know about this data. That’s why the Law Center is promoting state resolutions and follow up legislation to declare pornography a public health crisis, to raise public awareness and to lay the groundwork for future legislation. As of the spring 2019, NCOSE’s resolution has already passed in 15 states.
- Push Back Against Children Being Used in Pornography – the porn industry overturned 18 U.S. Code § 2257 so they have less regulations on age records, making it easier for them to illegally use a 16 or 15-year-old girl in mainstream pornography. The porn industry gloats that they spent 1 million dollars lobbying for this change and they are actively working to dismantle other laws, unchecked by opposition until now with the NCOSE Law Center as their foe.
- Make Schools and Libraries Safe – unfortunately, most schools and libraries have poor or nonexistent filters to keep children from being exposed to pornography. The NCOSE Law Center is working to create model policies that citizens can introduce to protect children and safeguard the integrity of places of learning.
- Protect Kids on Social Media – social media of all kinds are rife with pornography, in addition to child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, sextortion, predatory grooming, and more. The NCOSE Law Center is striving to fix these problems by advocating on Capitol Hill and in states to hold these companies to higher accountability in ratings and parental safety tools.
How is “sex trafficking” defined?
Trafficking in persons (TIP) is the illegal commerce in human beings. It can be helpful to conceptualize TIP (also known as human trafficking) as a process through which a person loses his or her freedom and is reduced to the status of someone else’s “property.” People who live through the trafficking process ultimately experience slavery, because they become people over whom others assume the powers and rights of ownership.
Empower Sex Trafficking Survivors to Achieve Justice
Sex trafficked individuals are often deeply harmed by the abuse they have endured. Among myriad chronic illnesses, injuries, and negative psychological impacts, one major study of the health consequences of U.S. sex trafficking victims found that the majority (54.7%) suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and an astronomical 41.5% have attempted suicide at least once. Tragically, these individuals are often very young.
If we, as a society, are to stop this horrific tragedy of sexual exploitation, we must attack the problem at one of its strongest roots: cutting off those who profit from the sexual abuse and exploitation of other human beings.
A key part of the NCOSE strategy to create a world free of sexual abuse and exploitation is to file civil lawsuits to establish legal precedents against individuals and entities who either profit from or facilitate the commodification of humans for exploitation and demand they change their behavior. NCOSE seeks to obtain as much justice as possible for survivors, including securing for them additional financial support for their journey of healing, while also ensuring the giants of industry no longer prop up or ignore organized sexual exploitation. However, to accomplish this requires those who have suffered harm to come forward and serve as plaintiffs.
Historically, the movement to end sexual abuse and exploitation has suffered from lack of direction and coordination in the courts as there has been no robust legal arm dedicated to these issues in America. As a result, legal challenges to American laws, and opportunities to go on offense against pornographers, sex traffickers, and major companies to secure justice for survivors were lost.
The NCOSE Law Center enables the movement to overcome these past hurdles, allowing it to learn from, address, and correct many of these lost opportunities so it can go on offense against those who facilitate the sex trafficking of other human beings.
Could I Qualify for a Lawsuit?
Visit SexualExploitationLawsuits.com to learn about our cases, meet our legal team, and get help determining if you qualify for a lawsuit.
Thank you for reaching out to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. While we are dedicated to the service of others by paving the way to a world free of exploitation, please know we do not provide direct services or crisis care, and we are not local or Federal law enforcement.
If you are facing an emergency, please immediately call 911.
