YouTube cracks down on disturbing content featuring children after backlash
© Jenny Tobien / Global Look Press
Video hosting giant YouTube has begun clamping down on content showing children in vulnerable situations as well as disturbing material aimed at children. The move followed a wave of criticism against the video streaming service.
YouTube has “expanded its enforcement guidelines” concerning the removal of content featuring minors “that may be endangering a child, even if that was not the uploader's intent," Johanna Wright, vice president of product management said in a statement. She added the service also expanded its age-restriction policies on content featuring family entertainment characters in videos “containing mature themes or adult humor.”
The statement published on the YouTube official blog Wednesday, also said the service had discovered a large number of videos that pretend to be family-friendly but are “clearly not.” “While some of these videos may be suitable for adults, others are completely unacceptable,” and the company is in the process of removing the content.
More than 50 YouTube Channels as well as “thousands” of videos have already been removed under the new stricter guidelines over the last week, the statement says, adding, that the video service continues “to work quickly to remove more every day.”
The video hosting giant said further that it had, since June, removed ads, allowing YouTubers to capitalize on the content they post, from as many as 3 million videos “depicting family entertainment characters engaged in violent, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate behavior.”
The service, which is a unit of Alphabet Inc.'s Google, also pledged to increase the number of experts it works with to assess its content as well as double the number of Trusted Flaggers – regular users, who voluntarily monitor the site for harmful content and report it to administrators. YouTube also decided to crack down on “inappropriate sexual or predatory comments on videos featuring minors,” by announcing that it would further disable the entire comment section for any videos of minors where these types of comments would be found.
The wide-ranging measures from YouTube is in response to mounting criticism recently leveled against the Google-owned giant by the media as well as activist groups. This week, Buzzfeed reported about “hundreds of disturbing videos showing children in distress.” The media outlet also contacted YouTube regarding some of its verified accounts featuring such videos, each of which allegedly had millions of subscribers.
Earlier, the New York Times reported that some videos featuring content that may be inappropriate for children may have slipped through its automated filters and found their way to the YouTube Kids section, considered to be a children-friendly app. A British writer, James Bridle, also listed some of the questionable videos in his online essay published recently.
A group of concerned activists also created a forum on the Reddit internet platform called ElsaGate, named after a Walt Disney cartoon princess often seen in controversial YouTube videos. The activists compiled a list of YouTube channels posting disturbing content either featuring minors or aimed at children.
After being contacted by Buzzfeed, YouTube management deleted all videos featured in its report and suspended all accounts in question for violating the video service’s regulations, according to the media outlet. However, the report also said that, before the video hosting giant took action, live-action child exploitation videos had been rampant and easy to find on its network.
Earlier, the Telegraph also reported that even YouTube’s own Trusted Flaggers complained that the service failed to respond to their reports. In August, a volunteer told BBC that "there is no reliable way for a concerned parent, child in danger, or anyone else to reliably report and get action on a predatory channel."
Activists welcomed YouTube’s recent announcement of policy changes, but said further action is urgently needed. “Thank you but this can't just be some press release. We need real action,” one person said. Some people also questioned why the video hosting giant took so long to tackle the problem.
Priorities, of course! The horrific destruction of children doesn't enter YouTube's business model. Having a conscience costs money, lousy corporate citizens choose money over conscience almost every time. It's a pity YouTube couldn't have taken this action before advertisers began removing their business; I would be more convinced that their heart is actually in this rather than just being a way to get advertisers back.
U.S. Troops May Be Punished for Stopping
Child Rape by Afghan Soldiers
AP/Muhammed Muheisen
by EDWIN MORA
American service members in Afghanistan have relatively recently been officially required to report when U.S. taxpayer-funded Afghan security forces sexually abuse young boys, but they are “not obligated” to intervene and may be criminally punished for doing so, according to an audit by the Pentagon inspector general (IG).
Moreover, one American service member told the IG that U.S. troops were told to “ignore” the ancient pedophilic Afghan custom known as bacha bazi, or “playing with boys,” confirming the findings of a New York Times (NYT) article issued in September 2015.
The IG notes that reporting the incidents is necessary when a soldier actually observes child rape, and the soldier can intervene at that moment. Any action taken outside of actually witnessing the crime could result in disciplinary action.
“There’s no recourse to stop them from bacha bazi. Soldiers [were] told to ignore it and drive on,” said the service member.
Referring to the chain of command, another U.S. troop told the auditor, “The initial reaction of the staff was ‘we don’t really care about this, and we’re not going to do anything about it.'”
The audit suggested that, prior to the September 2015 implementation of explicit guidance declaring the sexual abuse of children at the hands of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) a gross human rights violation, American troops were confused about whether such acts were wrong, tolerated, and reportable to the chain of command.
In responding to the IG’s report, the Pentagon claimed U.S. troops have always been aware of the despicable nature of sexually abusing children, adding that DOD “strongly condemns” the practice.
Although U.S. troops are required to report allegations of sexual abuse, the IG found the records to be incomplete.
“As a result, there is no certainty that [U.S. Forces-Afghanistan] received notification of all allegations of human rights violations, including sexual abuse involving ANDSF personnel,” noted the DOD IG.
Under the Leahy Laws, the United States cannot provide any funding assistance to foreign security forces deemed to have committed gross human rights violations, such as the sexual abuse of children.
In other words, had the Pentagon officially identified child sexual abuse as a human rights violation before September 2015, the U.S. would have been required to cut funding for the ANDSF, which has reached an estimated $70 billion since the Afghanistan war started in 2001.
The centuries-old Afghan practice of bacha bazi involves selling boys — also known as “chai tea boys” — to wealthy and powerful men for entertainment and illicit sex, explained the U.S. Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a separate watchdog agency from the Pentagon IG.
In June 2016, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned that the practice might place the lives of U.S. troops at risk, noting that the Taliban exploits the Afghan security force’s affinity for child sex slaves to penetrate Afghan bases and use boys to launch deadly attacks.
Nevertheless, not only are U.S. troops not required to intervene when an ANDSF member rapes a child inside a base they share with Americans, their superiors may reprimand them for taking any action.
The IG for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) explained:
Under DOD Law and consistent with bilateral and international agreements governing U.S. operations in Afghanistan, U.S. Forces who observe a member of the ANDSF sexually abusing a child are not prohibited from intervening and using reasonable force as may be necessary to prevent or stop such sexual abuse. However, U.S. Forces are under no obligation to intervene.
We note that intervention and, if necessary, use of force to stop such an assault is dependent on actually observing the abuse or assault in question. Such action would not be appropriate based on others’ assertions, allegations, of complaints of alleged abuse.
The inspector general later acknowledges that an American service member who intervenes or uses force against an ANDSF child rapist outside of catching them in the act of raping a child “could be subject to possible allegations of criminal misconduct (e.g., assault) resulting from the use of force during the intervention.”
However, the responsibility to punish the U.S. service member falls on American authorities, not the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRA).
The U.S. military has already punished American troops who have used force against Afghan child rapists — marking its nonintervention policy.
It was not until September 2015 that the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan explicitly mandated that DOD personnel report allegations of child sexual abuse to their chains of command.
Prior to that date, the Pentagon did not officially consider child sexual abuse by the ANDSF troops, which includes police and military units, as a human rights violation.
Although troops are ordered to report child rapists, there is still is no specific Pentagon instruction for how U.S. troops should notify their superiors about gross violations of human rights (GVHR).
It added:
We recommend that the Commander, United States Forces–Afghanistan establish more detailed procedures for DoD affiliated personnel in Afghanistan to report allegations of child sexual abuse committed by ANDSF personnel, and other human rights violations, including procedures that verify [U.S. Forces-Afghanistan] receives such reports.
Despite the specific command guidance to report the Afghan troops’ involvement in the abhorrent act of bacha bazi, the Pentagon IG found the records are unreliable and inconsistent.
The number of alleged reports ranged from 10 to 300, but DOD IG insisted, “We were unable to confirm the completeness and accuracy of information maintained on allegations of child sexual abuse involving ANDSF personnel being tracked by the DOD.”
SIGAR reported that the practice was punishable by death under the Taliban regime, but powerful men “resurrected” it after the U.S. military dethroned the terrorist group in 2001.
Although Afghanistan has enacted laws that punish sexual abuse of children, it is unclear to what extent Kabul authorities are enforcing the statute.
Former Child Trafficking Victim Serving Life Sentence For Killing Man Who Exploited Her
by Zahara Hill, Fox 17
Tennessee is recognized for its vigilance in combatting child sex trafficking. But if you ever read the case of Cyntoia Brown, you’d be flabbergasted by such esteem for the state.
WSET reports the Nashville woman was a victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager.
In 2004, Brown killed Nashville realtor Johnny Allen, one of the many men who paid to have sex with the then 16-year-old. As a child sex slave, she’d been repeatedly raped, abused and held at gunpoint prior to being exploited by Allen. She admitted she feared his military background paired with the numerous guns she said she saw in his home. She shot and killed the 43-year-old.
“He was a sharpshooter in the Army,” Brown said of Allen. “I’m sitting here thinking, ‘If he does something, what am I going to do?”’
Brown, whose grandmother and mother are also survivors of rape, was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 51 years.
Filmmaker Dan Birman followed Brown’s case for seven years in Me Facing Life: Seeking Redemption in Cyntoia’s Story. The documentary on the young woman, which premiered on PBS in March 2011, was partly responsible for igniting the change in the way the state handles sex trafficking cases. Now, anyone under 18 years old can no longer be charged with prostitution in the southern state.
“We started the conversation,” Birman said. “This is a young girl who’s at the tail end of three generations of violence against women.”
While in prison, Brown attained her associate’s degree from Lipscomb University and is now working toward her bachelor’s. She also works as a volunteer consultant with the Juvenile Justice System.
A petition has been created for Brown via MoveOn Petitions. Once it receives enough signatures, it will be delivered to Congress in the hopes she will be pardoned.
Texas youth arrested for child sexual abuse
A young man has been placed in juvenile detention following a visit from Teague Police Department, responding to a report of sexual abuse involving a child.
Responding to a report of Child Sexual Assault was Interim Police Chief Dewayne Phillpot, on Friday, November 17, 2017 at about 8:30 a.m.
A male suspect was later arrested and placed in the juvenile detention facility in Groesbeck, Texas. He is charged for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child – Family Violence.
The suspect has not been named, as he is a juvenile.
Teague PD is working with the Freestone County District Attorney’s Office, Freestone County Juvenile Probation, and Child Protective Services to keep the victim in this case protected.
According to an official press release, the case remains under investigation, and is being forwarded to the Freestone County DA’s office for Prosecution.
Montana Supreme Court upholds sex abuser's conviction
Phil Drake, pdrake@greatfallstribune.com
HELENA – The Montana Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that found a Great Falls man guilty of sexual abuse of children.
In a decision filed Wednesday, five of the seven justices said there was sufficient evidence to establish that Talan Michael Harrington knowingly possessed child pornography and that the definition of “possession” applied to him.
“We conclude that the District Court did not err when it determined that the state presented sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find that Harrington knowingly possessed child pornography,” Justice Michael E. Wheat wrote.
In 2012, investigators from the Department of Homeland Security, which, according to court documents used software to find people in Montana sharing child pornography, went with a detective from the Great Falls Police Department to the home of Harrington’s former girlfriend.
She denied ever looking at child pornography, but said she had been in a relationship with Harrington and that he knew the password to her Wi-Fi signal.
The investigators went to Harrington’s home, where he admitted to downloading two child porn videos that featured 7- and 8-year-old children, court documents state.
Agents retrieved 24 suspected child porn images and the state filed 24 counts of sexual abuse of children against Harrington.
In 2015, Harrington filed motions to dismiss stating the statutory definition of possession is unconstitutionally vague and that there was insufficient evidence. Those motions were denied by the District Court.
After a plea agreement, on June 1, 2016, he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of children.
He was sentenced to 10 years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with all 10 years suspended. He was to complete sex offender treatment, register as a Tier One sex offender, have no access to the internet, and pay a $2,000 fine.
He is now on probation, according to the Department of Corrections website.
Harrington, in his appeal, argued he could not have control of the images retrieved on his computer because they were stored in a space which could only be accessed using sophisticated forensic software.
The Supreme Court justices found that there was more than sufficient evidence to support knowing possession of child pornography because there were more than just cache images or deleted images.
“Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, we agree with the District Court that there is sufficient evidence that a rational jury could have found Harrington guilty of sexual abuse of children because he knowingly possessed child pornography,” Wheat wrote.
He noted that Harrington, who was born in 1985, admitted to searching and downloading child pornography.
Wheat said Harrington’s argument that charges could be brought against a defendant who involuntarily downloaded child porn did not apply in this case. “Harrington knowingly sought out multiple child pornography files to download; this is clearly not a case of involuntary download,” he wrote.
Native girls in Western Alaska most at risk
for felony sex crimes
By Shady Grove Oliver, The Arctic Sounder
Western Alaska, which includes the Northwest Arctic Borough, is the most dangerous part of the state for women and girls in terms of sexual violence.
Chignik Village, AK
Nearly four times as many felony-level sex offenses were reported in the western portion of the state than in the far north, which includes the North Slope Borough.
That's according to a recent statewide report based on information compiled from law enforcement agencies around Alaska. The North Slope Borough Police Department, the Kotzebue Police Department and the Alaska State Troopers C Detachment, which covers the Northwest Arctic, Bering Straits Region and parts of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region, all participated.
This report, released by the Department of Public Safety, collated data on rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse and other felony-level sex crimes.
Across Alaska, 63 percent of these crimes were sexual assault, 28 percent were the sexual abuse of a minor, 5 percent included indecent exposure or exploitation of a minor, 3 percent were child pornography and 1 percent was sex trafficking.
It's important to note that many instances of rape and child sexual abuse go unreported, so numbers in reports like these are likely significantly lower than the number of crimes actually committed.
Likewise, Alaska has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the country, meaning these numbers are already high when taken in comparison to data from other states.
In Alaska, many of the victims are young teenagers — children — whose attackers are older, but usually known to them either as a family member or an acquaintance. Victims are usually women and girls and are most often attacked in a home. More than half of the victims are Alaska Native.
Western Alaska is a large region that stretches from Kotzebue and Nome, down through Bethel and out to the Aleutians. In 2016, there were 329 reported felony sex offenses in the area, which has a population of 73,696. That means there were just over 446 of these crimes reported per 100,000 people.
That's a striking number, especially in comparison to what's seen in the northern region, which includes the Slope, the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area and Fairbanks. There, only 123 such crimes were reported for a population of 124,566. That means there were about 99 felony sex offenses for every 100,000 people.
Anchorage fell below Western Alaska with a rate of about half as many, at 262 per 100,000. Southeast was half that again, at 125 per 100,000. The least number of offenses were reported in Southcentral at a rate of about 65 per 100,000 people.
Statewide, there was a 14 percent increase in the number of reported felony sex offenses from 2015 to 2016.
"An increase in reporting may, but does not necessarily, mean an increase in actual crime," noted Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in a letter to the governor and attorney general, introducing the report.
In a breakdown of victim and perpetrator demographics, it noted the most common victim in the state is a 14-year-old girl who is attacked in a home. The most common suspected perpetrator is a 19-year-old man who knows her.
The age of the most common victim is the same in Northern and Western Alaska, though the most common perpetrator is much older in the west — a 27-year-old, compared to a 22-year-old in the north.
Most victims are women — 87 percent — and over the age of 18 — 50 percent. A third are between the ages of 11 and 17 and 18 percent are 10 years old or younger.
The vast majority of victims in Western Alaska are Alaska Native — 92 percent. This is somewhat in keeping with the demographics of many of the villages in the region, which are predominantly Native.
However, while Alaska Natives make up more than half of all sexual assault victims in the state, they make up only about a quarter of the population, meaning they are disproportionately at risk.
In the northern region, 60 percent of the victims were Native, while 34 percent were white.
Another dismaying set of data shows that the younger the victim, the more likely they were attacked by a family member. For victims ranging from infants to 10-year-olds, 57 percent of the perpetrators were family members, while 42 percent were known acquaintances. Only 1 percent of young victims were attacked by strangers.
For all victims, including adults, 28 percent were assaulted by family members and 68 percent by known acquaintances. Still, only 4 percent of the crimes were perpetrated by strangers.
Most of these felony-level sex offenses did not include a weapon, the report noted.
The information is sobering, especially when taken in context of national numbers and the understanding that many crimes never come to light at all.
"Education, awareness and action most often lead to an increase in reporting of sexual and domestic violence, providing more opportunities to provide both support and services to victims and increase offender accountability," said Monegan in the letter.
He noted the state is "fortunate" to have access to this kind of data in order to better confront the issue and "give us a clear path forward to enhance our strategic work to reduce, prevent and end sexual violence across Alaska."
If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual or domestic violence, there are resources to help, including local law enforcement.
For the North Slope Borough, Arctic Women in Crisis is able to provide emergency shelter and counseling to victims of sexual and domestic violence. AWIC's 24-hour crisis number is 1-800-478-0267 or 907-852-0267.
For the Northwest Arctic Borough, the Maniilaq Family Crisis Center can provide both emergency shelter and counseling. They can be reached at 907-442-3969.
More information on resources and contacts can be found at www.andvsa.org (Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault).
The National Sexual Assault Hotline is also available 24 hours a day at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). More information is available at rainn.org.
Upstate NY man arrested for alleged
child sex abuse
By Matthew Hamilton
RICHMONDVILLE — A Schoharie County man was arrested for alleged child sex abuse earlier this week, State Police said Friday.
Jose Bruno, 29, of Richmondville was charged with felony sex abuse and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child Tuesday. Troopers said they received a complaint regarding potential sexual abuse of two children under the age of 10 years old in February.
Bruno was arraigned in Richmondville Town Court and sent to the Schoharie County Jail on $20,000 bail.
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