001All right, good morning everybody and welcome to another session. Um, in our child abuse prevention and awareness webinar series. So, we really appreciate that you're taking the time out um, to learn more about internet and social media and how it impacts the lives of our students um, and children. So, this session will be recorded um, Monica, if you don't Do you mind checking on that to see if it's recording? I don't see that it is. It is recording. It is, beautiful. Thank you. All right. You're welcome. Um, so this session is being recorded and we will get it up on our website as soon as we can. There will maybe a small delay because we are updating um, that particular website. All right, so today we're going to um, we're going to host in a
002Zoom webinar format. So, this means that participants can't show their video or share their audio. Um, but feel free to use the the chat which I see that people are doing which is great. Um, and time allows the presenters um, may have time to answer any questions that you have. If you want to ask questions, will you please use the Q&A box? That way we can keep up a little bit better with that. The chat kind of gets muddled with people introducing themselves and stuff like that. And sometimes we miss miss questions, but you can use a Q&A function. We will do our best to get those questions answered. Um I know a lot of you have already become familiar with the chat function. Um we may be dropping in resources um through the chat,
003so definitely keep an eye on that. So today we are going to provide a 1-hour CPE credit um for educators today. So for those who attend the whole webinar session. So the CPE certificate will be sent by um probably the beginning of this coming week, if not today. We send it to the email that you registered with. So if you work for a company and you you know, use your personal email, it's going to go to that email and not necessarily your work. All right, so we will not record I mean we will not provide uh CPE credits for the recordings. All right. So we are super excited um to have our first presenter. I do want to mention that um when I send the email with the CPE credit, you will also get the
004slides from Crime Stoppers of Houston, okay? All right, so today's session is going to feature Jenna Fondren and she is a statewide director of the Safe School Institute from the Crime Stoppers of Houston. So we are super excited to have her on board and if you have never attended any of the Crime Stopper of Houston's trainings, you are in for a um just a load of current and relevant information. So Jenna, I'm going to stop sharing my screen and feel free to take over. All right. I think Let's see. There we go. Okay, good morning everyone. I hope you're having a great Friday. Um I think we're all probably all glad it's the end of the week and we're ready to get our weekend started, but we can't get our weekend started before we learn
005all about the newest social media trends and just things to look out for. Um I'm super happy to be here with you all today. If you're unfamiliar with Crime Stoppers of Houston, I'll do a very, very brief introduction kind of of who the what we do, what the Safe School Institute is, what my role is, and then I'll jump into some social media trends for you all. Um before, let me see. Okay, there. I just got to get my computer situated. So, um my name, as mentioned, is Jen Vanderslice, and I oversee the uh Safe School Institute at Crime Stoppers of Houston. We are There we go. Our mission at Crime Stoppers of Houston is to solve and prevent crime. So, we really have two arms of our organization. We have wonderful law enforcement who
006um are dedicated to taking anonymous tips and keeping our um county, Harris County, safe. Um and then we have really kind of the education sector of what we do, which is crime prevention. So, we have two big um programs or institutes that are run through the prevention space. We have our Safe Community Institute, which is wonderful. They they cover all the local crime issues. They have a a research center with incredible crime statistics, a podcast that's launched every week. Um and then our Safe School Institute is the education that we provide to students K-12, educators, school-based law enforcement, parents, really anyone in the school community space who has time to to have us and invite us to speak. Um and make sure that students have enough information to make sound and informed decisions. One quick
007kind of update if you're if you all are unaware of this, we actually expanded statewide a few years ago. Um so, I know we're Crime Stoppers of Houston, but we actually have team members in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, um and we travel all over Texas and provide information to any local school district. Um so, if you would like presentations in your area, please please please email me. I'm more than happy to get sure that that make sure that that's scheduled and that we can provide you or your students with um information covering things like social media, dating violence, human trafficking, bullying prevention. We have 13 different subjects we cover. So, go check out our website. Um we're free. I think that's another big thing is that we go into schools completely free of charge. Um
008it's hard to put a price on safety and um we just want to make sure that all of you feel supported in this space. When we go into a school campus, our goals are to reduce victimization, deter delinquency, of course, promote anonymous reporting, help students make sound, informed decisions, put safety at the top of their priority list, and then just be honest and transparent um talking to kids about predators or dating violence or traffickers or fentanyl or mental health um is not easy. And um we we we go into that um space knowing that we have to have hard, delicate conversations, but also talk to the kids in a respectful, open, honest, direct manner. So, that's that's really our approach. Um we don't like to use scare tactics. I don't really think that that works.
009Um I think students see right through that, and um we just want them to know we're here to protect them and help them feel equipped to handle kind of unforeseen safety concerns. We like to use real-life examples. We'll bring in very age-appropriate content. We work directly with campus needs, and we would try to be as relatable as we possibly can. Um all y'all are actually going to get a copy of this presentation as mentioned. So, I'm going to kind of skip through this and make sure that I can really get to the bulk of what I would like to talk to you guys about in the next 20 minutes. Um but ultimately, we do feel like we are a resource and a solution. Again, we're completely free all across Texas. Um I know it's the
010very end of the school year. It's May. So, if you're just thinking about planning for next school year, you want to just get some presentations on the calendar for the fall, again, reach out to me. Happy to talk to you through that. Okay, let's jump into this, guys. Um I always like to start talking about kind of some general themes that you'll hear me um talk about throughout our time today. First is that the internet is a shared space. We have to share the internet with every single person in the entire world. And so, that means our kids are sharing the internet with um essentially babies, toddlers. Um I have a 2 and 1/2 year old and a 6-month-old at home. Um you know, my 2 and 1/2 year old is obviously not on the
011internet. I know way too much. They're going to hate me when they get older. But um I um you know, every once in a while, if I need 20 minutes to myself, um put on a little YouTube Kids channel, right? So, kids understand what the internet is at such a young age, but they're also sharing the internet with with predators and strangers and um creepy, scary, weird people who do weird, creepy, gross, inappropriate stuff. Um and because it is one large, shared space that every single person is using, um they're going to see things that make them feel sad, scared, and confused. Every single child, almost every single day, is going to see something online that's confusing, overwhelming, um and and potentially scary. And and we have to, as adults, be their safe space. What
012I uh I've heard a lot from students when going into schools is when a child feels brave enough to come forward about something they've seen on the internet that they are confused about or scared about, and the automatic response out of an adult's mouth is, "Well, why were you looking there?" Or, "You should have known better. Why did you click on that?" And the the the language is crowded with with blame and shame, and that child is never going to come talk to you about it again. Um we have to take those moments as wins. Your child, whether it's your your own child or your student, they felt comfortable in that moment to view you as their trusted adult. Take that as the win. Um take a deep breath, say, "Thank you for telling me,
013and let's talk about it." Um there's also no such thing as privacy on the internet. That is something we stress very, very, very early when going into schools. We actually talk to kids about that starting in kindergarten, pre-K. Um and again, in a way that they can comprehend. The internet is permanent, and we are seeing um kids who make really honest mistakes at a very young age, middle school even, that affect their future, getting into college, getting jobs. Um so, one big thing when we go into schools is talking to kids about just the the concept of thinking before you press send. Um taking a minute, pausing, and saying, "Does this represent my character in a positive way?" Um it also relates to cyberbullying and and intimate photos that are sent, so many things. But
014again, these are some big general themes I think are important to stress with you guys as well as kids. Um the internet is also ever evolving. We're never going to be fully up to date. That's the thing is I have both this wonderful, wonderful team who we spend so much time researching and trying to stay up to date, and the minute that we make presentation edits and changes and new trend or a new story or new something is is um you know, popping on the scene and and we're always going to feel a little bit behind. And we're also always going to be um a step behind the students. Students are going to outsmart us every single time. Um but I think there is so much power and knowledge and being aware of what the
015trends are and just how to have the conversations, right? That's really what this is about. How do I even talk to kids about what they're dealing with on the internet? And then lastly, uh before I move on, the impact. Um we are seeing students suffer from a lot of mental health um um concerns whether it's anxiety, depression, um starting at a very, very, very young age. Um suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 34. Um the impact that social media is having on our kids um is is devastating. There are positive things that come from social media. I don't like to only be doom and gloom. Um but for the purpose of this presentation, I'm really going to be talking about the things we need to be concerned about
016whether rather than the things that we can champion. Um please don't stray away from the mental health conversation with your child. Um or with any kid that you work with. Um if you notice something that makes you worried or concerned, please please ask if they're okay and and start that really important conversation. Inviting yourself to have a conversation can save a child's life. So here are our um some of our top internet safety concerns that we at least research the most, but also get the most phone calls about. Um so of course, cyberbullying. 46% of US teens aged 13 to 17 report experiencing cyberbullying in a given school year. Older teen girls experience higher rates of online harassment. Over 90% of kids aged 18 to 16 have seen inappropriate content online, and one in three
017minors report engaging in online sexual interactions. So, inappropriate content, that's such a large umbrella. That could be anything from hate speech, salacious photos, to threats, to violence. I mean, that's it it runs the gamut. But, um we know kids are seeing things that they should they shouldn't be exposed to on a regular basis, and the problem here is the overexposure ends up desensitizing kids to this information. So, when I'm going into schools and I'm having these conversations, we're talking about the online violence or the inappropriate content, the language that they're using with me is so desensitized. They just don't see it as a problem. Um they view it as normal, which honestly makes the conversation a little bit more uh difficult because we're I'm trying to break that idea that they've already kind of glued
018in their brain of what's normal or age-appropriate. Um and then grooming, of course, and I know Nick Nick they're uh the experts in talking about a lot of this. Um 10 to 14 um years old is the average age of online victimization. That doesn't mean 8-year-olds aren't victimized, and it doesn't mean 18-year-olds are victimized. They are, of course, but 10 to 14 is this age where we see a lot of predators um going after kids. Whether it's because they are going through puberty for the first time, experiencing their first breakup, maybe they're getting into their first relationship, there's home life drama. 10 to 14 is just a very vulnerable age, and um and predators know that. And then most children are enticed online via Snapchat, Discord, or TikTok. The rise of smartphones that um I
019feel like this is probably a no-brainer, um but in 2014 um 73% of teens had a smartphone, and by what year? 2021, 95% of teens um were given a smartphone or had access to a smartphone. Now, a lot of this can be tied to the pandemic. Um you know, just working with with families throughout the pandemic, we we know that the only way for so many kids to felt to feel connected to their friends or family um was through social media. And and I think we can talk about the positives of social media through the pandemic for sure, but um when, you know, that was the only way that kids could communicate for so many years, um it's it has had a ripple effect. And um we have not seen the decline of certain apps
020or or the amount of internet usage go down since the pandemic. 75% of teens have at least one active social media profile, probably not a big surprise. 54% of teens say it would be hard to give up social media. 51% visit a social media site daily, and 35% say that they're on social media almost constantly. Um you know, when I go into schools and I talk about social media and and just how students view social media, I would say every campus is a little bit different. Um there there's always kind of a status quo dependent on the the city, the area, the group of kids, um but it's so ingrained into their everyday life. And I think that the approach that I like to take with kids is not coming in and saying I I
021or shaking my finger at them and making them feel bad for growing up in the digital age. This is their reality. Social media is part of their everyday. So, instead of making them feel like I'm I'm there to lecture them or or say that it's all bad, it's giving them the information. This is what could happen, and this is how I want you to protect yourself. This these are positive decisions, these are negative decisions. You have to talk to them like they're a person. Um making them feel less than or or saying, "Well, you know, when I I growing up, we just played outside and kicked rocks. Um, that's not how they're growing up. They have no way to relate to that. So, let's make sure we're talking on their level and just help them
022and and want to protect them. Social media over time, of course, you guys can look at this graph yourself, but what I did find to be really interesting is that between 2022 and 2023, we did see a decline in TikTok. I was not expecting that. Um, same with Instagram and same with YouTube, but the the one app that was a little bit more on the rise, um, Snapchat of all of all apps. And I say that I knowing it's incredibly popular with kids. I still have so many conversations with kids regarding Snapchat, but um, it's been around one of it's one of the longer social media um, apps that's been out and it's interesting to see that it's still on the rise. I will say that the fact that Snapchat's whole platform is built on
023disappearing content is definitely probably the number one reason why it is still so popular. Most kids choose to even text and communicate via Snapchat more than they do like iMessaging or just message the message app that that's built into their phone. Um, they know that their parents have a hard time detecting Snap messages or looking at them and again, they're always going to outsmart us. So, here's some concerning features and this is regarding all social media apps. And I I do want to just say typically when I go into a presentation, I I speak to you guys about this like an hour, hour and a half. So, I'm going through this very fast, but I do just want you to get a snapshot of kind of what we talk about when we when we work
024with you all. Um, there's users of all ages. I mentioned that. You're sharing the internet with two-year-olds. You're also sharing the internet with 90-year-olds and that can come with a lot of concerns. Um, many apps will automatically um, enable your location on through building your profile. So, making sure kids know how how disable location services. There are not many laws that hold these apps accountable for the inappropriate things that are posted or the violence that's posted or someone's bullied or harassed and they do that on purpose um because they just believe, you know, whether it's whether you agree with it or not, they believe that they can't be held accountable for what a third party would post on their site. Um and so it's it's causing a lot of problems. I know that y'all are
025probably following that in the news and seeing people testify at the capital. Um disappearing content has also become a feature on almost every single popular social media app. So I know Snapchat, I mean it's it was built on that, disappearing content, but now Instagram, half of the stuff that's posted on Instagram is is surrounding disappearing content and same with TikTok. Live streaming is is such an issue. Um kids feel very brave on a live stream. They'll say things that they shouldn't. They act in ways that they shouldn't. They're exposed to things in real time and don't have a proper way of reacting to it because it's live. Uh nothing good comes from a live stream and then of course the fake profiles, predatory activity. We teach kids how to spot a fake profile. We go
026through all of that with them. Um some of the things that we we talk about when we go into schools regarding cyberbullying of course is is making sure they understand that cyberbullying is more than just sending mean messages and and making sure they really understand the depth of why someone would do that and um and the lack of accountability cyberbullying culture has created. Um so again, it's not just mean messages. It starts with harming people, spreading rumors online, altering someone's image, Photoshop obviously is a huge issue. I'm sure a lot of you guys are seeing that in your schools, taking or sending embarrassing or inappropriate images, and impersonating someone via fake profile. Um I when we go into middle and high schools, we spend a good chunk of our hour with the kids talking to
027them about taking and sending naked photos. Not only just the laws surrounding that, but also the social and emotional side of it. And that actually tends to hit home a little bit more than the law. Um, just kids feel like they're invincible. And um, if I tell them that they can get arrested for child pornography, they kind of roll their eyes at me. But when I tell them that their photo could be used to bully them, blackmail them, harass them, um, and and what that could do to them emotionally, it actually, um, I see to get a little bit more reaction and understanding out of that. Signs of cyberbullying, of course, um, for how for how how you can spot that within your own child or a child you work with, secretive about their online
028activity. A lot of students feel a lot of shame, um, about being bullied online and and try to fix it themselves. Um, low school engagement, changes in their diet, avoiding social situations. So, if you see all of a sudden they're not hanging out with the friends they used to, um, having trouble sleeping, sudden withdrawal from social media, multiple accounts on one platform, um, you know, frequent illnesses, lots of trips to the nurse's office. And it's not that they don't actually feel sick, it's that it's a safe place to escape, but also anxiety can manifest physically. So, a lot of kids who are experiencing anxiety due to cyberbullying get, um, stomach aches and headaches. And nervous when getting a message, you just feel like they're acting very fidgety around their phone. Um, I'm not going to
029go through all of these one because I sound silly saying them out loud, and two, I want you guys to look them up on your own. But the reason we put these kind of the terms terms that teens use is because kids talk in their own language online. If you're not up to date with what these terms mean, and you're sitting there trying to decipher a cyberbullying conversation, if you're a counselor, you're a principal, or you're parent and your kids showing you this like, "Hey, look at what this person's saying to me online." And you're like, "What the heck is slay?" Or "What the heck is rizz?" You're not going to understand like what they're going through. And so, I really do encourage you guys to to understand their language, look up these terms. Um
030especially terms like PMS, which is kill myself or kill yourself. Um you'll you'll always you'll want to be aware of that language. You could end up saving their life if you just see something that they thought you might not be able to understand. And then, of course, emoji code. Um kids have an emoji code. They talk about things in emojis because they know adults don't understand it. Um one that's not on here is like the little snowflake emoji typically signals things like cocaine or drugs. Um a plug uh there isn't a a plug emoji that's typically your drug dealer, someone that's going to hook you up with drugs. There's so many more than just the ones that are listed on this screen. Bark is a really great resource for more information on that. Social media
031tips. Things I will always tell adults to talk to their students about. Every single account needs to be private. Every single account. Um there's nothing good that comes from a public social media account for a child except if they have um like a an uh a hobby or something they're really good at. So, I I was just working with a group of kids last week and at a high schooler saying, "You know, I'm really into music and I do have a social media account that's just posting my music and I want it public in case, you know, a producer or someone can see it." And I just talked to them about all the potential safety concerns and I said, "Hey, listen. I'm okay with that as long as your parents have access to it. They
032have access to the safety settings. They can see the DMs. They know the people that are reaching out to you. Um you know, I want you to feel very confident in your craft. Um, I want you to feel like you can utilize social media to help you go forward in life, but I also want you to be safe. Um, talking to kids about stranger danger, we do this starting at such a young age with kids. Um, but we we forget to have the conversation surrounding stranger danger online. And many kids aren't making that connection. They know to not talk to a stranger in Target or Walmart or the grocery store. Um, if a creepy person in a van drives up and asks for them to pet their puppy, they know they know the dangers in
033that, but there's so much danger in answering a random DM. And there's so much danger in talking to someone online and you don't truly know who they are. But kids feel like because they're in their bedroom or at home in their safe place, it's not as dangerous. And their parents are in the next room. So, what could happen to me if I engage with strangers online? And so, talking to them through those scenarios and getting them to understand the mind of a predator is important. Turning off location service settings, utilizing all of the safety settings that are built into a platform, and then these two things are so important. Keep personal information private, name, age, anything that could be used to identify you, where you go to school, how many siblings you have. Um, I
034just And I always tell kids like, don't post pictures of yourself on social media with your school sweatshirt on. If if if someone does follow you who you aren't you don't know, they don't need to know where you go to school. And then I think probably most importantly, don't use the internet as your online diary. Do not complain online. Um, you know, I I want kids to feel comfortable struggling. I I'm not I don't want to take that away from them, but I do not want them to post their struggles on the internet. The minute they post about their friendship drama, whatever it might be, um, that it becomes a magnet for predatory activity. So, that's that's a big conversation. Every kid has vulnerabilities. Um this this slide talks a kind of about not the
035stages of grooming, but the process of grooming. And and again, y'all are going to get a copy of this. So, I only have like 3 minutes left. I want to get to some other things. Um handling online harassment, we always kind of break it into these three categories: preventing, responding, and reporting. Um talking to kids about these strategies is very very beneficial. It just gives them a game plan. It gives them a an actual like action step that they can take. Um I think that's what a lot of kids struggle with is is especially the ones that are educated and have really great conversations at home with their parents or at school. Um they know what to look out for or they can identify what's unsafe, but they don't know what to do if it
036happens to them. Um this, of course, take it down um is is such a great resource. I'm sure Sophia will most likely talk about it. Um we refer people um here all the time. And this one as well um which is stop non-consensual intimate image abuse. I always have to remember what what it stands for, but it's also a really great resource. How to spot a fake profile, I recently just added this into our presentation cuz we were talking about it so much, but we didn't have an actual slide on it. Um kids are always asking me, "Miss Jenna, how do I know if it is a fake profile?" So, giving them um these kind of key elements, whether it's incomplete or inconsistent profile information, they have very few friends and interactions, profile is mostly
037stock photos and memes or recycled photos, and just trusting your gut. Um I always say if the person that sends you a friend request, if you look at their profile and they follow like a thousand people, but no one follows them back, most likely a fake profile or someone who doesn't have good intentions. Teen dating apps, I know it's like makes your stomach hurt when you say that out loud, but these do exist. Um, I actually don't cover these with students. This is an adult presentation that you're seeing. I if I had a full time with you guys, I'd walk through all of these with you and and why they're so dangerous, but again, you're going to get a copy of the slide, so please look into them and know that these exist. Especially look
038at the one that's called Meet Me. It's a little smiley face. Um, they don't they don't look harmful. Um, they they have fun colors and they look kind of cool and app designers do that on purpose. They don't want parents or adults scrolling through their kids apps and thinking that it's it it is potentially dangerous. Um, gamer gaming and I can talk to students about gaming all day long, but um, you'd actually be shocked to see that um, people under 18 isn't the highest percentage of the people that game online. Actually, the average age of the gamer 33 and all that to be said is is kids are playing with adults online and they're engaging in conversation with complete strangers and adults while gaming. So, talk to them about that. Monitoring tools, Bark, Custodio, Net
039Nanny are all really great options. Um, Google Family Link is also a great option. And then, um, screen time has a lot of great parental controls built in if you have Apple devices. We do talk to students about current laws. Um, believe that is so important especially because you can be arrested as young as 10 years old in the state of Texas. So, when we go into schools, we talk about grooming, David's Law, privacy, online impersonation, threats, and of course, uh, child sexual abuse material. Pending laws, I encourage that all look into Dr. Laura Berman's story about her son Sammy who overdosed on fentanyl. Uh, it's heartbreaking. Um, I get teary-eyed every time I talk about it and every time I read about it, um, but it is the reality that we're living in and
040the reason fentanyl is even brought up in this presentation is because the pill that he bought um that ended up taking his life was one that he bought through Snapchat. So, snap social media ends up being tied to most things that we we go into schools and talk about. Here are some really great conversation starters. I'll let you look at that and use it on your own because I don't want to take more of of Sophia's time. Um but so here are some reminders. Ongoing conversation is key to personal safety. It doesn't matter how educated you are I mean education is so important. Doesn't matter how many, you know, uh monitoring softwares you have on your devices. Um if you are not having conversations with students and you're not allowing them to come forward and
041talk to you, um we're doing them a disservice. Conversation's going to save more lives than anything else. Um take action, research new apps and games, just stay up-to-date, and remember that it's never ever ever ever a child's fault if they're victimized. They did not ask for it. They did not deserve it. They are a child. Um even if we feel like they're capable of making a responsible decision, they do not have a fully developed brain. They're a child. They're going to make mistakes. Um additional resources and um as well as my CEO wrote a wonderful book um called The Online World. So, I encourage you guys to look into it. Thank y'all so much. I feel like I just talked really fast. So, I hope you you got something from that. We're just here and
042um I look forward to speaking with you guys um in the future. Again, email me anytime. Thank you. Anna, that was really really great content and I really appreciate that you went through all of it. And um again, I just want to encourage the audience to just kind of a taste of what um Crime Stoppers of Houston does. With the email that you're going to get your CPE credit um or certificate, you will also receive a link to their menu of services. And they have a plethora um services there. So, I am very excited to introduce to you our next presenter. So, our next presenter is Sophia Montes de Oca Pre, from the she's Outreach Manager for the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. She has a great presentation. I know there are some
043questions in the Q&A, so Jenna, Sophia, if we have time at the end we can address those live. If not, feel free to chat in those. But, with that I will stop sharing and hand it over to you, Sophia. Thank you, Tammy. Just let me know if you're able to see my content. I'm about to share. Yes. Okay, we're still good? Still good. Perfect. Okay, awesome. So, thank you, Jenna, for that presentation. That was actually awesome and we're going to be talking about a lot of that in this presentation as well. But, good morning to everyone. My name is Sophia Montes de Oca Pre and I serve as the Texas Outreach Manager for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC for short. We're very grateful to have the opportunity to speak with
044you about the work we're doing, not only across the country, but at this point our mission is international as well. So, today's presentation will focus on current internet safety trends we have identified through various reporting systems that we run. And I'll also share a few of the many free resources we have to offer. So, I have a lot of information and data to get through in a very short amount of time, but I'll do my very best to not talk too quickly. So, let's jump in and before we dive into all of these um pieces of data and resources, I'd like to give a brief overview of NCMEC for those of you who might not be too familiar with the work that we're doing. Um so, NCMEC is a private non-profit organization that is leading
045the fight for child protection. And more specifically, we have been serving as the country's national resource center since the '80s. In fact, this year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary. Uh so, a little bit about um our history. Uh back in 1981, John and Reve Walsh lost their 6-year-old son Adam after he was unfortunately abducted from a shopping mall in Florida and later found murdered about 100 miles from his home. So, this specific tragedy and that of other children around the same time inspired this movement in in the country for a coordinated response to issues of missing and exploited children by the government. And in 1984, NCMEC was founded. So, our headquarters today are in Alexandria, Virginia, but we also have regional offices across the country. In fact, I'm actually based out of our Austin,
046Texas office. We also have one in Florida and one in New York. And most importantly, at NCMEC we believe that every child deserves a safe childhood. And I'm sure that all of us in here agree with that statement, so I just want to take a moment to thank everybody who is here today for taking the time to learn more and for having this interest in in child protection. We really appreciate um all of the the work that you're doing with our children every day. Today, NCMEC works in partnership with families, survivors, the private industry, law enforcement, and the public to pursue our mission, which as you can see here, is to find missing children, to reduce child sexual exploitation, and to prevent future victimization. We are actually congressionally mandated to operate 15 programs to address
047these three points in our mission. Unfortunately today, we won't have time to go through every single one of them because if we could, I would be here for 10 hours, but we don't have that time, so we'll be looking over some of the most prominent ones just based on current trends and online safety. And really, my hope today is that everyone in this room uh or in this session leaves with an idea in their head of how they can leverage some of these resources in the work they're doing in their own communities. Now, we receive reports via our CyberTipline and our hotline, which is 1-800-THE-LOST. When a report is filed, our analysts review it and assign it a priority level. So, for example, a priority one would be for a child who's in imminent danger.
048This could look like if we receive a report of a sexually explicit image and something in that image reveals to us that it was taken a few days before we reviewed it, then we know that child is probably still currently in a situation of abuse and needs our help. We also gather additional information that could be useful for the cases um across many online platforms to support that initial report. Then, we go ahead and share all of this information with the appropriate law enforcement jurisdiction, so they can begin their investigation in the area. And I also want to quickly share that many of our reports are resolved internationally, so we're working with law enforcement agencies around the world. The bulk of our reports come from electronic service providers such as Facebook, but we also want
049professionals and the public in general to know that anyone can use this reporting tool. Anyone can submit a report online by visiting cybertipline.org. And in fact, here is a short clip to illustrate uh the steps for reporting. I'm not hearing the sound, Sophia. I don't know if I'm the only one. Okay, yes. No worries. I'll I'll walk through the steps anyway. So, essentially, the clip the clip is describing um that once we receive that report, we go ahead and look into the information that was provided by the person reporting. From there, we, like I mentioned, look into additional clues that can help us figure out where this child is located and what the situation might be for them at home. From there, we forward that to uh the authorities in that specific area where the
050child has been identified, and then they go ahead and uh contact the family and and kind of continue with the case from there, but I want to share with you this data from 2023. In in the last year, we received 36.2 million reports to our CyberTipline, which is a 12% increase from the year prior. So, within those reports, there were over 105 million files. So, we're talking about 50 million videos and about 40 million images depicting child sexual abuse. And these are impressive numbers, but it it it, you know, we shouldn't let ourselves get lost in the numbers and and keep in mind that these are children that we're talking about, right? They are the ones that are in the situations of abuse. So, when we're thinking about content and images, we have to keep
051in mind how this actually affects a child and what that might look like for them in their day-to-day life, which we'll be talking about um a little bit later on. And on this slide, you'll see the list in order of categories of child sexual exploitation that are most frequently reported to NCMEC. As I mentioned before, most of the reports we receive are regarding sexually explicit images of minors circulating on various online platforms. Now, at NCMEC, you'll never hear us refer to this content as child pornography. Instead, we say child sexual abuse materials or CSAM for short because we want to focus on the fact that there is a perpetrator committing a crime against a child, but most importantly, there is a child victim who needs our help. And we have these other two categories as
052well of reports, which are online enticement, and then we have child sex trafficking. And I do want to take a moment here to define online enticement as this is going to be something we'll talk about as we move along through the presentation. Online enticement is when someone communicates with a child online in order to commit some kind of sexual offense or an abduction. And this can include trying to meet up in person with a child like Jenna had mentioned. Maybe they're sending explicit images or they're soliciting images from a child as well. And within this category of online enticement, we find tactics like grooming and sextortion, which is an issue that has been on the rise as we'll see in the data moving forward. But in case you haven't heard of it, sextortion is exactly
053what it sounds like. This is a mix of sex and extortion when there is blackmail, force, threat, or intimidation involved with that initial online enticement. And here we have some data on our CyberTipline reports for online enticement over the past 4 years. What I truly want to highlight here is that the number of reports we received in 2022, which you can see is 80,000, doubled or more than doubled in 2023. So we have 186,000 reports of online enticement in 2023. So this is again the category in which sextortion is found and it is a trend that has been on the rise in the past couple of years like I mentioned. And surprisingly for for many of us, it's actually our younger boys who are being targeted with the specific tactic of sextortion. From our reports,
054we've seen that boys ages 9 through 12 usually are being sextorted online for example through gaming platforms and social media by perpetrators who use fake profiles to lure them in. And what is most alarming is that these instances of sextortion often times lead to suicidal ideations in children just based on what they are reporting to us in the CyberTipline. So we know that this is absolutely something we need to be addressing with our youth. Now, we need to also take a moment to focus on youth-produced explicit content. This is essentially when a child in an in a sexually explicit, nude, or partially nude image or video created that same piece of content. And there are many contexts in which self-generated content might be created, and usually our first thought is consensual sexting. But, sometimes if
055we dig a little bit deeper into the situation, we can actually find that children have been coerced, they've been groomed, or even threatened to send this content, or it could be even a result of sextortion. So, this content is also sometimes live-streamed. Um so, really we we can't end our conversation at just don't post something or just don't send something because, as Jenna mentioned, now we have this live-streaming component in many of our apps and and just social media platforms. So, children will oftentimes tell us, "Well, you know, it was live-streaming. It seemed more private. If I close my computer, then it's over, right? That that was the interaction." But, we know that that is not the case. That can be screenshotted, recorded, there could be somebody else in the room. And what is what
056is very, I think, uh alarming here as well is that we usually think about teens engaging in this behavior, but what we're seeing in our data is that our younger kiddos are actually the ones sometimes producing this kind of self-generated content. So, sometimes it's normal behavior that they are posting or live-streaming, but it can also be more egregious stuff. We have even seen commentary encouraging children to involve siblings or friends in sexual activity or engage in that kind of activity on their own. So, again, I just want to express that it's very important for us to think about starting conversations about safety in general from a very, very young age because children are already facing these kind of issues online. This set of charts illustrates data of images where children have been identified and are
057being actively traded, meaning this is content that has been reported to NCMEC at least five times. So, there are images and videos, unfortunately, that are reported to NCMEC on basically a daily basis, even thousands of times over many years. So, looking at the graphs of the breakdown of these images, perhaps this gender identity chart that we see is not surprising to many of us with female victims at 63% but age breakdown over to the right is most notable. So, about 60% of victims are prepubescent age. And as a society, we are usually hesitant to talk to this group about consent, abuse, sexuality, or even just guidelines or rules around taking and posting pictures or videos um online. So, because of this trend, we are focusing our recent efforts on developing prevention education tools for parents,
058caregivers, and adults in general to use and to have um these conversations and and be proactive in preventing child sexual abuse from an early age. There is this connection here, obviously, with um general child sexual abuse in a more broad spectrum, but uh we know that with with child sexual abuse, the median age is about 8 years old, and that is not very different from what we're seeing online. So, prevention interventions that don't start until even the first grade have literally missed about half of the children who have already been sexually abused. Now, Thorn is one of our wonderful partners and they conducted a study in 2021 to help us better understand behavior and experiences of children as it relates to self-produced CSAM. This data set here was created to show the difference in numbers
059of children sharing self-generated content from 2019 to 2021, and I know all of us were alive and well during this time, and we know that there was a pandemic, and essentially our whole lives shifted to this online world. And And now that we're kind of out of the pandemic, it's it's still 50/50. Kids are going to school online, we're working remotely often times, and um essentially Thorn wanted to redo this study in 2021 to see how time and COVID uh had affected that initial data. So, I want to highlight just a few numbers here. So, for all ages 9 to 17, there was an increase from 11 to 18% uh from 2019 to 2021. Then, when we dive into the subgroups, the number for children ages 9 through 12, so third and fourth graders, went
060up from 6% in 2019 to 14% in 2021. And then we have 24% of teenagers in 2021 who have shared their nudes as well. So, really I just want to focus here on the fact that again, there there's this age group that we tend to overlook when we're talking about sexting and prevention and just online safety in general, but these these studies are telling us that children are already engaging in these behaviors, so we need to be meeting them right where they are um this point. So, by now we're all probably wondering what actually stops children from engaging in sharing sexually explicit images. And this is also very important for us at Net Nanny to know in terms of prevention materials. So, this chart here shows the reasons that children gave for not sharing self-generated
061content for this Thorn study. And as you can see here, the fact that it's illegal, like Jenna mentioned, is not at the top of the worries children have. It's actually the least of their worries with 6% at the very bottom of this list. However, they are telling us that they are concerned about leaking and sharing of images. So, really the takeaway here is that when we think about our prevention messaging, it's important to emphasize what is going to resonate most with our kids. The only way that we can actually get this information on safety to resonate with them is if we're meeting them where they are and understanding their perspective, which can be very, very different from those of someone who was their age when the technology was not nearly as advanced as it is
062now. And we know that children are now forming meaningful relationships online and can often fail to recognize suspicious behavior on the internet because they think, "Well, this is my friend that I met or this is my boyfriend that I met online. Uh so, they wouldn't do anything to hurt me, right?" And we need to be able to shift that mindset and say, "Hey, maybe you don't really know this person that well." Um and I will add that we often hear from children reporting to Net Nanny that their main concern is how to stop the images from being online and then their secondary concern is their parents finding out about these images. So, we even receive direct messages on social media asking about content takedown. So, I will definitely expand a bit more on how we're
063supporting them with this issue later on. So, I will say that as an outreach manager, the one or the two questions that I get most often from parents are one, which app should my child stay away from, which one is the most dangerous? And um really they this is a complex answer, but the the reality is that any of these apps that have a communication component are a risk for our children. So, if somebody can reach your child through a message, that already can can put them at risk, right? So, really that the issue here is access. Children have access to the internet and to these platforms from a very early age and and the the part that really is missing here is this conversation that we need to be having about the expectations that
064we have for them, what they should and should not be doing, what safe behaviors look like. And we know that children uh now are getting younger and younger as they access the internet. So, this is just kind of becoming the reality. And again, we need to be able to keep up with these trends as technology continues to advance and our children continue to go grow essentially on the internet. So, um the other question I get is what is the one app that I can use to protect my child? And so, nobody really likes this response when I say it, but there isn't one app that can really do all of that for you. There are many, you know, monitoring apps and there are limitations that you can set on phones and different platforms, but the
065reality is that the answer to this question is much more simple. It is communication and conversation because we know that children are very, very smart and they can get around all of these different apps and essentially limitations that we put on their phones, but really what we want them to know is that whatever happens to you, one, you're not alone. Two, there is support out there and we're going to help you find a way out of the situation, which which we are hearing from children is essentially their their main concern. It's It's what do I do now, right? I don't I don't really know what's happening to me and I don't know how to get out of it. So, um before we dive into our free resources in a minute here, I want to quickly
066highlight that it is ultimately our responsibility as adults to make sure that our children are safe and healthy. They are growing and learning every day and they are bound to make mistakes. So, just saying, uh you know, don't do this or don't do that is simply not enough for for our children. We need to also say, "If you do If you do make a mistake, if you do something you regret, know that this is how I can support you. This is what you can do to to help protect yourself as well." And so, I just want to stress as well that abuse is never the child's fault and we need to empower them by teaching protective behaviors from an early age. So, through our online safety resources, we're hoping to empower not only children, but
067also the adults in their lives to be able to take on these conversations and meet children where they are. So, we understand that often times these conversations can be kind of awkward if we've never really heard of the topics or if we didn't have those conversations ourselves when we were younger. But again, the reality is, you saw it in the data, that children need these conversations and and they're seeking support. Often times they'll end up on these very uh suspicious websites because they're looking for answers about what is happening to their bodies or or what they are experiencing in terms of maybe feelings for somebody. So, again, we want to make sure that we can essentially become kind of a a Google for for our own child, their their own personal Google that has their
068their best interests at heart. So, um our NetSmartz program is our educational program on online safety. It provides resources like and games to teach kids, teens, parents, educators, anybody um about internet safety addressing topics such as cyberbullying, sexting, and online enticement. So, with this program we're aiming to empower uh children and families in grades K through 12 um to essentially have an active role in problem-solving safely while they're surfing the internet. We're also trying to really engage these two-way conversations uh with parents and children. And again, we're just trying to encourage children to report unsafe behaviors and be able to to feel uh safe speaking out if something has happened to them. So, uh this program can be customized based on the needs and time constraints of each audience that you're working with. And some
069of the components, as you can see here, are presentations, tip sheets, activity guides. We have actually a whole website that you'll see on the next slide that is specifically for children and is 100% safe for them. Uh but really what I want to mention here is that any of these resources that you see, like tip sheets or activity guides, we can actually send over to you free of charge in bulk to your schools or whatever organization you might be working with. Um and also they are available through our website. So, these are already If you go on there now, you'll be able to download PDFs and and presentations and see the videos and all that good stuff. But really uh if there's any way that we can help or if you have any feedback, we
070also want to be hearing that because essentially, you know, as educators, you are the ones that are working directly with our children. So, we always appreciate um that feedback as well. Now, this is what our NetSmartz Kids website looks like. This was created to provide a peace of mind while uh for parents while children play and do activities online still. So, there is no communication component on this website. We're We're really trying to close off that room for risk of contact with an offender. And what's great about this is that all the content here relates to online safety and to the characters that we're we're using throughout our NetSmartz program. Now, Into the Cloud is one of my favorite components of NetSmartz. This is a web series intended for kids aged 10 and under. And
071what's really neat about about this is that the content of the series is created using data from actual CyberTipline reports to address these trends that I've mentioned we're seeing um in this data. So, the series has currently two seasons. It just got approved for a third, which is great news. Uh so, keep an eye out for that in the near future. But, essentially, the first season is covering cyberbullying and recognizing um and reporting unsafe content. And then, season two, as we saw the sextortion kind of uh become a a a trend, we targeted uh preventing online exploitation and then reporting or removing inappropriate online content. So, each episode is about 3 to 6 minutes, or you can actually watch it watch a full season as a movie, which would be around 30 minutes. So, the
072best thing about this is that it's delivering this crucial safety information in an age-appropriate way because it is intended for children under essentially 10 years and under. So, we are not saying any of this um we're not using any of these terms like child sexual abuse or sextortion. Instead, we're using characters and we're we're kind of coming up with this with this world this internet world where where children are learning as as the characters navigate different situations. So, it's it's a very interesting um component that we have and I recommend everybody here checks it out at some point in in their own time. We won't have time to view the clip that I have here just for time purposes, but it is a great resource. Now, this specific clip is called Your Photo Fade and
073this was developed actually for our older um children, so our teens. This is focused on sexting and essentially what the consequences of that could be and what it could look like if a had made a different choice as well. This is accompanied like the rest of the clips with a discussion guide and it essentially walks facilitators through different talking points and different key components of the video itself. Now, we also have this tip sheet for sexting. It is one of many. Again, I recommend you go into our resources tab on our website, but essentially we are trying to target this uh this demographic of our younger children to really be able to learn about the fact that the there are risks to sexting and what that can actually look like and and what somebody who
074cares for them would or wouldn't do as well. So, we're we're really touching on healthy relationships as well. And then quickly here, I just want to mention we have a whole tab dedicated to sextortion because we know again that this is this is something that is continuously growing through our data. So, we have sextortion tip sheets for parents and adults. We have this sextortion poster that has a QR code at the bottom for children to easily access it. Our partners have told us that placing it in bathroom stalls or locker rooms is very helpful because, you know, children want that privacy to to seek information. And then we also have this clip that is called it's called sextortion. It is one of three that recently we we rolled out earlier this year and it's focusing
075again on building healthy relationships and learning to identify what sextortion looks like. And then we also have our newest resource, uh No Escape Room. This is actually fresh out of the oven and was just released last month. It is an interactive film that is part of our digital strategy to show parents or adults in general what it looks like and feels like for a child to be exploited online. So, adults tend to be highly unaware of how frequent and close to home cases of sextortion and exploitation truly are. So, we actually have a teaser clip here and I want to say this is very, I think, um impactful for for me as an adult and every time I watch it, I kind of get this sense of like anxiety creeping in. It was It was
076greatly done. So, here is this short clip. So, that's just a teaser, but please do go on our website and and watch the film. I I think in general with the uh the interactive choices, it should be around 30 minutes or so. Um and then we also have this uh tip sheet on disclosure. So, if a child is ready or is feeling like they want to talk about what happened to them with an adult, we have a uh step-by-step guide on how they can do that. And we also recommend adults kind of uh read through this as well so they know what the expectations are for children. We want to make sure that when a child i- is feeling finally safe and and comfortable to say something, that that response they're met with is adequate,
077it is supportive, and that they will have that they will have that support that they were seeking um when they want to disclose. So, again, all of this is available for free uh for download through our website. And uh we'll touch on Take It Down, which is very, very important. I know Tammy was uh really wanting for me to to talk about this. And this is actually one of our our newer resources as well. This just rolled out last year. It is um a reporting tool where essentially anybody who has a an image of them that is nude, uh partially nude, or sexually explicit and is a minor can report it to us. So, it's important to know that it's not intended for third-party reporting and one should never take screenshots or share explicit images
078of a minor even if it's for reporting purposes. This is specifically for the child who has taken taken a photo or video of themselves and has that image or video on their own device. So, adults who find images of themselves online when they were minors can also report with this tool. Now, the way it works is that for each image or video Take It Down generates this unique hash or digital fingerprint. Essentially, it's a series of numbers and letters that identify that image. So, most importantly, the original image or video stays on the child's device and is not ever uploaded anywhere. And then once we have this generated hash, it's added to a secure list that we maintain here at NCMEC and we exclusively share with participating online platforms, which you can see uh listed
079on our Take It Down website. So, these platforms use the list to scan their public or unencrypted sites and applications for these hashes and from there Take It Down. So, the fastest that we can get this content removed is about 48 hours and I do want to stress that this resource is completely free. It is available in over 25 languages and can be used by anyone around the world. And another great thing about it is that it's completely anonymous. So, often times that is what can stop a child from disclosing or from seeking help is not wanting to know um or wanting to share that they they were in that situation. So, we we take that into account and we say, "Well, here is this resource. You don't have to give us, you know, your
080name or any of that information if you don't want to, but we'll still be able to help you um get that content taken down." So, I really encourage everybody to to look through our website um and also kind of just talk about these resources in your communities because we really do want to be able to provide that support for for our children. And then in addition to this Take It Down resource, NCMEC offers important information for survivors wanting to act quickly if they discover their images or videos circulating online. We have instructions on our website to help guide users on reporting this content on popular platforms. And we're seeing survivors of CSEM speaking out about the lasting harm uh that this online circulation of their images and videos can have. So, we really are trying
081to create this response for them as well as in we we hear you. We we understand what what that can look like for you even as you are are going into this healing journey. So, we want to make sure that they feel that they are in control of of their images. And uh in addition, we offer support uh for them and their families as well. So, this is again completely free. It can be accessed through our website and this QR code that is on your screen now, but we offer support services like crisis intervention, emotional support, legal referrals. And then we have our wonderful family advocacy outreach network, which essentially um is a voluntary network connecting victims and families with mental health service providers in their areas and other local organizations that can provide that
082help for them as well. And then lastly, I want to mention that we have our community education uh partner program. This is very very um important because I am the outreach liaison for this program, but this is just a great program for us to be able to push our prevention resources out into different communities that otherwise we wouldn't be able to reach. So, we're always seeking partners who are interested in in being trained on how to deliver these presentations on online safety for different age groups and different audiences. And you you get to have a partnership with with NCMEC. So, we offer technical assistance, we have lunch and learns, um and we get to do a lot of networking with other organizations as well through this. Actually, Houston Crime Stoppers are one of our RCPs.
083So, you can always ask Jenna about that experience for them as well. And then we have um our NCMEC Connect learning platform. These are on-demand trainings and resources that are available. Again, completely free. All you have to do is register and let us know what field you're in and we'll create this catalog of relevant uh training topics for you. So, one of the most popular ones right now is our sextortion. It's kind of a a 101 uh on the topic and and essentially best practices as well. So, again, please visit um connect.missingkids.org to see uh any of these training uh opportunities available. And then here is my contact information. If anybody has any additional questions or there's anything that I can help with, if you want to ask for resources, whatever it may be, um
084you have a friend at NCMEC now. I might take 5 to 7 business days to reply, but I promise I will get to it. So, thank you everybody. Sophia and thank you, Jenna. I know this is a lot of information crammed packed into an hour session, but I really wanted to um you know, get the information out there so that that you as an individual can go and expound on these resources and these two different agencies. Um there are um a couple questions in the Q&A that um we won't have time to address, but I will see if I can't get those answered and add those to the email. So, with that, I really appreciate everyone attending. Again, thank you, Jenna. Thank you, Sophia. This has been some amazing um resources and information and we
085really do appreciate that. So, um with that, everyone have a great day. This is the last session um in our in our webinar series, but hopefully we'll have more um next year. So, with that, have a great day, everyone.