Three Recent Victories We Almost Missed: Snapchat, Google, U.S. Navy
At the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, we’re incredibly busy defending dignity each and every day. For example, we’re currently preparing for the launch of our 2019 Dirty Dozen list on February 11th at 11am Eastern. We hope you’ll join us! We’re so busy that there’s three major victories we almost missed! Each of these…
Youth Movement Rises Against Snapchat, organizes #DeleteSnapchatDay
The Next Generation is Standing up Against Pornography and Snapchat June 1st was National Delete Snapchat Day!! A social movement that is fighting pornography and opposing social media platforms that contain pornographic materials pronounced June 1st, National Delete Snapchat Day. Their efforts gained steam, with many young people speaking up on social media and sharing…
Cosmopolitan and Snapchat’s X-Rated channel “Cosmo After Dark” Cancelled
In the words of Cosmopolitan, “Cosmo After Dark is an X-rated weekly edition that goes live every Friday at 6 p.m. and is exclusively dedicated to all things hot and horny.” Cosmo After Dark was launched on Snapchat’s Discovery page. Surprised it was on Snapchat? We aren’t, remember they’ve been on our Dirty Dozen list…
How Stripping, Prostitution, and Sex Trafficking Occurs Through Snapchat
In addition to Snapchat’s troubling association with the normalization of sexting, Snapchat has facilitated the monetization of sexting thanks to the advent of Snapcash, an in-app way to exchange money. Question: What do you call a sexual performance conducted in exchange for money? Answer: Prostitution, pornography, stripping…and sometimes even sex trafficking. Increasingly, pornography performers and…
Cyberbullying, Sexting, and Snapchat: It’s Time To Take This App Seriously
It’s time for Snapchat to take sexting, cyberbullying, and sexual exploitation on its app seriously. Within the last decade, cyberbullying has emerged as a pernicious new form of bullying that breaks the spirits of our nation’s children. It has been deemed a public health issue[1] and is a matter of serious concern to our organization….
Victory! Snapchat Improved its Policy on Graphic, Risqué Stories
Snapchat stories are finally starting to listen to its concerned users. This Monday Snapchat updated its guidelines for Discover publishers to discourage click bait. It announced that Snapchat will give publishers a tool in February that allows them to age-gate content, or stop minors from seeing specific content. Snapchat Discover is a section of that…
One Millennial’s #NoThanksSnapchat Petition Got Over 20,000 Signatures in One Week
Over the past few months, the featured stories on Snapchat have been getting more and more sexually explicit. The Cosmopolitan and Daily Mail stories are ridiculously raunchy and strategically placed right where users (as young as 13 years old) will see them when they go to watch their friends’ stories. Featured stories advertise sex tips…
Podcast Episode: Does Sexting Make You Vulnerable to Exploitation?
Sexting, the sending of nude or explicit messages through texts, social media, or apps, is a serious social pressure in today’s culture. The eighth episode of the “Sexploitation?” podcast addresses the prevalence of sexting among teens and young adults, and it’s impact on sexual exploitation. One recent survey released found that 66% of teens and young adults have…
Podcast Episode: Does Facebook Facilitate Sex Trafficking?
We think of sex trafficking as only occurring in dingy dungeons, but really so much of it has moved online – it’s a digital age – you no longer need to “know a guy” or go to the seedy side of town to have access to information about buying sex – now access to what…
Snapchat “Discover” is Not Safe For Work or Children
[Trigger Warning: titles of explicit and offensive articles found on Snapchat Discover are included in this blog.] Snapchat rates itself as appropriate for ages 12+ for infrequent mild sexual content and nudity, and for infrequent mild mature suggestive themes. But, I’m not sure if Snapchat knows the meaning of the words “infrequent” and “mild.” I…