Imagine your teenage son goes upstairs to do homework — and just hours later, you discover he has taken his own life. For too many families, this nightmare is a grim reality, the result of a rapidly growing and devastating crime known as sextortion.
Sextortion is a powerful form of exploitation where predators trick and coerce victims, often young boys, into sending explicit images online. The exploiters often pose as teen girls and reach out with flirtatious messages. This is no haphazard operation, research has found that thousands of Instagram accounts perpetrating sextortion were linked to only 20-25 individuals — in other words, this is often an organized criminal activity, something no teenager is prepared to go up against. They are trained and skilled at building trust quickly, shifting the conversation to sexual topics and eventually sending pictures or videos and requesting some in return.
In mere minutes, the blackmail begins. Predators threaten to expose the victim’s nude photos to their contacts or social media connections unless they pay a demanded sum — fueling fear, shame, and deterring them from seeking help. To heighten the pressure, some blackmailers may falsely accuse teens of criminal activity, warning that they could end up on sex offender registries.
For some, the shame and fear of being exposed are so overwhelming that they see no way out, leading to tragic actions like suicide within mere hours of being targeted.
Sextortion has been connected to dozens of deaths of teen boys by suicide in recent years. Tragically, these numbers are likely underreported as family members may not know the circumstance that led to a loved one’s death by suicide.
There are an average of 812 reports of sextortion per week, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This crisis demands immediate attention and action.
For too long, online platforms have failed to prioritize safety. Take Snapchat, for example. New Mexico’s attorney general recently brought a lawsuit against Snapchat. According to a report from NBC News, documents from the lawsuit reveal “‘Snap employees were discussing 10,000 user reports of sextortion each month,’ which is most likely ‘a small fraction of this abuse.’”
“In addition, the suit alleges internal documents show that reports of grooming and sextortion made about specific users largely went unanswered or unaddressed,” according to NBC NEWS.
Meta’s Instagram appears to be the #1 platform for sextortion. One key reason is the availability of follower lists, which predators can leverage against victims. While the platform has taken steps to identify and protect kids from sextortion, there’s still more they can do to prioritize the safety of minors.
According to a report from Thorn titled “Trends in Financial Sextortion,” online payments are another avenue for exploitation. “The most common payment methods were Cash App and gift cards, followed by other easy-use payment apps such as PayPal and Venmo. The dominance of gift cards and Cash App has slightly increased over time relative to other payment services.”
With Cash App ranking as the #1 payment method for financial sextortion, there is valid concern over many of their default features like public profiles and limited identity verification. These vulnerabilities could expose younger users to predatory behavior.
It is time to require a higher standard of care from online platforms.
One vital step to combat sextortion and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is the “Take It Down Act,” a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). This legislation has already gained significant momentum, passing unanimously in the Senate. Now, it is time for the House to act and make this bill law.
The “Take It Down Act” is a bold step toward creating meaningful protections for sextortion victims and victims of nonconsensually-shared explicit content. It addresses the crisis in two key ways, first, by mandating quick removal of harmful content, and then by criminalizing image-based abuse. Under the “Take It Down Act,” social media platforms and websites would be legally required to remove explicit images within 48 hours of a survivor’s request. These platforms must also make efforts to prevent the images’ reappearance, reducing the cycle of trauma for victims. This bill also makes it a federal crime to publish explicit images of a person without their consent, including AI-generated or “deepfake” content. This brings critical accountability to perpetrators who weaponize private imagery.
By passing this legislation, Congress can empower victims to regain control while ensuring that perpetrators face appropriate consequences for their actions.
For young boys targeted by sextortion, the bill’s immediate removal mandate could mean the difference between life and death, offering assurance that exposure is not inevitable and their situation is not hopeless.
If you are a parent or guardian, use this article as a reason to talk with your kids now about this threat online — before they ever find themselves in a dangerous situation. It’s natural to react with fear or anger if a child makes an unsafe choice, but we never know what difference maintaining an open dialogue can make.
Sextortion is a profoundly isolating crime — but no victim or family needs to face it alone. If explicit images have already been shared, resources are available. “Take It Down,” a free service from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, helps remove nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images taken before the age of 18. Visit takeitdown.ncmec.org for more information. The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative also offers critical support and resources for those affected.
Congress can and must pass the “Take it Down Act,” helping to give every child the safety they deserve and ensuring no life is stolen by this devastating fraud.
* * *
Haley McNamara is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Programs at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography. On X: @NCOSE
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
RELATED: Dozens Of Teen Boys Take Their Own Lives As Online Sextortion Cases Spike
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
Imagine your teenage son goes upstairs to do homework — and just hours later, you discover he has taken his own life. For too many families, this nightmare is a grim reality, the result of a rapidly growing and devastating crime known as sextortion.
Sextortion is a powerful form of exploitation where predators trick and coerce victims, often young boys, into sending explicit images online. The exploiters often pose as teen girls and reach out with flirtatious messages. This is no haphazard operation, research has found that thousands of Instagram accounts perpetrating sextortion were linked to only 20-25 individuals — in other words, this is often an organized criminal activity, something no teenager is prepared to go up against. They are trained and skilled at building trust quickly, shifting the conversation to sexual topics and eventually sending pictures or videos and requesting some in return.
In mere minutes, the blackmail begins. Predators threaten to expose the victim’s nude photos to their contacts or social media connections unless they pay a demanded sum — fueling fear, shame, and deterring them from seeking help. To heighten the pressure, some blackmailers may falsely accuse teens of criminal activity, warning that they could end up on sex offender registries.
For some, the shame and fear of being exposed are so overwhelming that they see no way out, leading to tragic actions like suicide within mere hours of being targeted.
Sextortion has been connected to dozens of deaths of teen boys by suicide in recent years. Tragically, these numbers are likely underreported as family members may not know the circumstance that led to a loved one’s death by suicide.
There are an average of 812 reports of sextortion per week, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This crisis demands immediate attention and action.
For too long, online platforms have failed to prioritize safety. Take Snapchat, for example. New Mexico’s attorney general recently brought a lawsuit against Snapchat. According to a report from NBC News, documents from the lawsuit reveal “‘Snap employees were discussing 10,000 user reports of sextortion each month,’ which is most likely ‘a small fraction of this abuse.’”
“In addition, the suit alleges internal documents show that reports of grooming and sextortion made about specific users largely went unanswered or unaddressed,” according to NBC NEWS.
Meta’s Instagram appears to be the #1 platform for sextortion. One key reason is the availability of follower lists, which predators can leverage against victims. While the platform has taken steps to identify and protect kids from sextortion, there’s still more they can do to prioritize the safety of minors.
According to a report from Thorn titled “Trends in Financial Sextortion,” online payments are another avenue for exploitation. “The most common payment methods were Cash App and gift cards, followed by other easy-use payment apps such as PayPal and Venmo. The dominance of gift cards and Cash App has slightly increased over time relative to other payment services.”
With Cash App ranking as the #1 payment method for financial sextortion, there is valid concern over many of their default features like public profiles and limited identity verification. These vulnerabilities could expose younger users to predatory behavior.
It is time to require a higher standard of care from online platforms.
One vital step to combat sextortion and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is the “Take It Down Act,” a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). This legislation has already gained significant momentum, passing unanimously in the Senate. Now, it is time for the House to act and make this bill law.
The “Take It Down Act” is a bold step toward creating meaningful protections for sextortion victims and victims of nonconsensually-shared explicit content. It addresses the crisis in two key ways, first, by mandating quick removal of harmful content, and then by criminalizing image-based abuse. Under the “Take It Down Act,” social media platforms and websites would be legally required to remove explicit images within 48 hours of a survivor’s request. These platforms must also make efforts to prevent the images’ reappearance, reducing the cycle of trauma for victims. This bill also makes it a federal crime to publish explicit images of a person without their consent, including AI-generated or “deepfake” content. This brings critical accountability to perpetrators who weaponize private imagery.
By passing this legislation, Congress can empower victims to regain control while ensuring that perpetrators face appropriate consequences for their actions.
For young boys targeted by sextortion, the bill’s immediate removal mandate could mean the difference between life and death, offering assurance that exposure is not inevitable and their situation is not hopeless.
If you are a parent or guardian, use this article as a reason to talk with your kids now about this threat online — before they ever find themselves in a dangerous situation. It’s natural to react with fear or anger if a child makes an unsafe choice, but we never know what difference maintaining an open dialogue can make.
Sextortion is a profoundly isolating crime — but no victim or family needs to face it alone. If explicit images have already been shared, resources are available. “Take It Down,” a free service from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, helps remove nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images taken before the age of 18. Visit takeitdown.ncmec.org for more information. The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative also offers critical support and resources for those affected.
Congress can and must pass the “Take it Down Act,” helping to give every child the safety they deserve and ensuring no life is stolen by this devastating fraud.
* * *
Haley McNamara is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Programs at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography. On X: @NCOSE
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
RELATED: Dozens Of Teen Boys Take Their Own Lives As Online Sextortion Cases Spike
“}]]
