Latest news with #onlineexploitation
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Sickening abuse': Darwin man allegedly paid to watch children raped live
Six children in the Philippines are now safe after authorities uncovered a disturbing case of online child abuse allegedly orchestrated by a Darwin man from a yacht and vehicle in the Northern Territory. The man faced Darwin Local Court on Tuesday charged with five serious offences, including allegedly instructing the abuse of children as young as six via live video from a remote location. The investigation began after Australian Border Force officers allegedly discovered child abuse material on the man's mobile phone during a baggage search when he arrived at Darwin Airport on New Year's Day. The matter was referred to the Northern Territory Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (NT JACET) who later executed a search warrant at Dinah Beach on January 3. The man was arrested after being found living between a vehicle and a yacht. Police allege forensic examination of his mobile device uncovered sexually explicit images and videos of children, along with video calls showing the man instructing facilitators in the Philippines to carry out child abuse while he watched live. NT JACET investigators passed information to Australian Federal Police officers in Manila, prompting a Philippines National Police operation in April. That led to the arrest of two suspects and the removal of six children from abusive environments. The Darwin man has been charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a child outside Australia (maximum 20 years' imprisonment if convicted), two counts of sexual activity with a child outside Australia (maximum 20 years), and one count of possessing child abuse material (maximum 15 years). AFP Superintendent Greg Davis said protecting children was one of the AFP's highest priorities. 'All victims of child sexual exploitation experience lifelong harm because of the selfish actions of their abusers,' Superintendent Davis said. 'The AFP will continue to work closely with local, Commonwealth and international partners to protect children from sickening abuse and together identify offenders and bring them before the courts.' Philippines National Police Brigadier General Portia Manalad praised the co-operation between agencies. 'The PNP Women and Children Protection Centre will continue to locate alleged offenders and rescue victims with the assistance of our foreign partners,' she said. NT Police Senior Sergeant Toby Wilson said the community could be confident police were committed to pursuing offenders and protecting vulnerable children. ABF Commander Tracie Griffin said the case highlighted the critical role of frontline officers. 'Six children are safe because of their diligence and the work of our domestic and international law enforcement partners,' she said.
ABC News
23-05-2025
- ABC News
Perth man James Paul Ellis-Kendrick accused of posing as juvenile to manipulate underage girls
A 20-year-old man accused of posing as a juvenile online to manipulate three underage girls into sending him explicit images is free on bail as he awaits his next court appearance. James Paul Ellis-Kendrick from the northern Perth suburb of Carramar is accused of lying about his age and sexually exploiting children online. He allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with three girls under the age of 16 on an instant messaging app. Police allege that after the victims sent images, he tried to manipulate them into sending more, and threatened to screenshot images sent by one girl when she refused. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said it started its investigation after receiving a report from the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children in the United States. After a six month investigation, Mr Ellis-Kendrick was arrested at his home in April and his mobile phone and computer was seized. He appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court on Friday morning, but was not required to plea to his three charges. The court heard that further analysis of Mr Ellis-Kendrick's devices was needed and the appropriateness of the charges in their current form had to be considered. Mr Ellis-Kendrick is scheduled to return to court in July. One of the charges he is facing carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. In announcing the arrest, AFP Inspector Shona Davis said parents needed to be diligent about their children speaking to strangers online. "They need to be reminded to never reveal personal information to anyone they communicate with online,'' she said.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump signs Take It Down Act to combat fake images and online exploitation
President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation that first lady Melania Trump helped usher through Congress, and he had her sign it, too, despite what sounded like a mild objection on her part. 'C'mon, sign it anyway,' the president told his wife. 'She deserves to sign it.' After she added her signature, the president showed the document bearing both of their names to the audience at the signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Melania Trump's signature is merely symbolic because first ladies are not elected and have no formal role in the signing of legislation. In March, Melania Trump used her first public appearance since resuming the role of first lady to travel to Capitol Hill to lobby House members to pass the bill following its approval by the Senate. At a signing ceremony, she called the new law a 'national victory' that will help protect children from online exploitation, including through the use of artificial intelligence to make fake images. 'AI and social media are the digital candy for the next generation, sweet addictive and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children,' she said. 'But unlike sugar, these new technologies can be weaponized, shape beliefs and, sadly, affect emotions and even be deadly.' The president said the proliferation of images made using AI means that 'countless women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will'. He said what's happening is 'just so horribly wrong'. 'Today, we're making it totally illegal,' Trump said. The bill makes it a federal crime to 'knowingly publish' or threaten to publish intimate images without a person's consent, including AI-created 'deepfakes'. Websites and social media companies will be required to remove such material within 48 hours after a victim requests it. The platforms must also take steps to delete duplicate content. Many states have already banned the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfakes or 'revenge porn', but the Take It Down Act is a rare example of federal regulators imposing on internet companies. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz and Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, both Republicans, received overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, passing the House in April by a 409-2 vote and clearing the Senate by unanimous consent. But the measure isn't without critics. Free speech advocates and digital rights groups say the bill is too broad and could lead to censorship of legitimate images, including legal pornography and LGBTQ content. Others say it could allow the government to monitor private communications and undermine due process. The first lady appeared at a Capitol Hill roundtable with lawmakers and young women who had explicit images of them put online, saying it was 'heartbreaking' to see what teenagers and especially girls go through after this happens to them. She also included a victim among her guests for the president's address to a joint session of Congress the day after that meeting. After the House passed the bill, Melania Trump said the bipartisan vote was a 'powerful statement that we stand united in protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of our children'. Her advocacy for the bill is a continuation of the Be Best campaign she started in the president's first term, focusing on children's well-being, social media use and opioid abuse. In his speech to Congress in March, the president said he looked forward to signing the bill. 'And I'm going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don't mind,' he said, adding, that there's nobody who 'gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody.'
The Independent
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Melania joins Trump to sign law to ban ‘deep fake' porn: ‘The wellbeing of our children is central to our future'
President Donald Trump has signed into law a bipartisan bill seeking to end the nonconsensual use of someone's likeness to create deepfake pornography after a bipartisan effort that was aided by First Lady Melania Trump, who testified before Congress on the legislation's benefits. Speaking during a brief signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said the Take It Down Act will be 'the first ever federal law to combat the distribution of explicit, imaginary posted without a subject's consent' and remarked that the legislation covers AI-generated forgeries — better known as 'deep fakes' — used to harass or extort victims. 'With the rise of AI image generation, countless women have been harassed with deep fakes and other explicit images distributed against their will. This is the wrong and it's just so horribly wrong, and it's a very abusive situation, like in some cases, people have never seen before, and today we're making it totally illegal,' he said. 'We will not tolerate online sexual exploitation, and especially it's gone on at levels that nobody has ever seen before. It's getting worse and worse, and I think this is going to hopefully stop it,' he added later. Trump's remarks followed a rare public appearance by his wife, Melania Trump, who opened the Rose Garden ceremony with brief remarks on the legislation she'd helped to shepherd through Congress earlier this year. She called passage of the law 'a national victory that will help parents and families protect children from online exploitation' and 'a powerful step forward in our efforts to ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused through non consensual, intimate imagery.' The First Lady said the combination of AI image generation technology and social media are 'the digital candy for the next generation' and described them as 'sweet, addictive and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children.' 'But unlike sugar, these new technologies can be weaponized shaped beliefs and sadly, affect emotions and even be deadly,' she said. 'Today, through the Take it Down Act, we affirm that the well being of our children is central to our future of our families and America.' The new law criminalizes the dissemination of nonconsensual 'deepfakes' in pornography – or using artificial intelligence to manipulate adult performers to appear like celebrities, average citizens, lawmakers and more. Under the legislation, offenders could be subject to fines or imprisonment for publishing depictions of both real or computer-generated people without their consent or with harmful intent. In addition to criminal penalties that take effect immediately, the law also provides for oversight from the Federal Trade Commission under which online platforms will be required to incorporate a way for victims of revenge porn to request it be removed. Platforms will then have 48 hours to remove the content. However, with recent cuts to the FTC and other agencies, it's unclear how smooth the report and remove rollout will be. Versions of the Take it Down Act had been in the works for years, with lawmakers hoping to extend protections to people who are victims of 'revenge porn' or who have intimate images of themselves published without consent. Trump's signature on the bill makes it one of just a few pieces of legislation enacted since he returned to the White House for a second term this past January. The new law's journey through Congress was a rare moment of bipartisan comity. Members of the House of Representatives voted 409-2 in favor of passing the bill, with only Reps Thomas Massie and Eric Burlison, both Republicans, voting against it. And in the Senate, not one person voted against the bill, which was sponsored by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. particularly children. In 2023, the FBI released an alert warning that many victims of deepfake pornography end up being extorted. The agency said that in more than a dozen cases, victims died by suicide. The issue has gained attention over the last few years as high-profile celebrities have become victims of deepfake technology. Last year, Taylor Swift became a victim of explicit deepfake images made in her likeness once they were posted on X and disseminated across other social media platforms.
CBS News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump signs "Take it Down Act," revenge porn bill backed by Melania Trump
Washington — President Trump on Monday signed a bipartisan bill into law that makes it a federal crime to post real and fake sexually explicit imagery online of people without their consent. The bill, known as the "Take It Down Act," was backed by first lady Melania Trump, who made a rare public appearance in March at the U.S. Capitol to advocate for the bill's passage in the House. The bill cleared the lower chamber last month after the Senate passed the measure in February. "This will be the first-ever federal law to combat the distribution of explicit, imagery posted without subjects' consent," Mr. Trump said during a bill signing event at the White House. "We will not tolerate online sexual exploitation." The law requires social media companies and other websites to remove images and videos, including deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence, within 48 hours after a victim's request. Those convicted of intentionally distributing explicit images without a subject's consent face prison time. "It's heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content like deep fakes," the first lady said in March. "This toxic environment can be severely damaging." The first lady attended Monday's bill signing, calling the law a "national victory that will help parents and families protect children from online exploitation." She thanked the bipartisan group of lawmakers who worked on the legislation "for coming together to prioritize people over politics." "Artificial intelligence and social media are the digital candy for the next generation — sweet, addictive and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children," she said, adding that "these new technologies can be weaponized, shape beliefs and, sadly, affect emotions and even be deadly." After Mr. Trump signed the bill into law, he handed it to his wife to also sign. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok and Snapchat have all said they support the legislation. Digital rights groups, however, have warned that the legislation as written could lead to the suppression of lawful speech, including legitimate pornography, and does not contain protections against bad-faith takedown requests.
