Manipulated by predators, sold for sex: 12 survivors of online sexual exploitation denied justice
2. Doe #1 v. Twitter, Inc. (9th Cir. May 3, 2023)
When John Doe was only 13 years old, he met someone on Snapchat who he initially thought was a girl from his school who had a crush on him. The two exchanged messages and developed a relationship, and the "girl" asked John Doe to send nude photos.
As NCOSE explained in its 2021 report on the case, the person John Doe was exchanging messages with turned out to be a predator. The stranger demanded more sexually explicit content from John Doe, and the teenager complied out of fear.
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The young man thought his troubles were over after he finally blocked the predator. Years later, however, John Doe discovered that photos and videos of his abuse had been uploaded to Twitter (now called X).
Twitter declined to remove the posts, even after John Doe provided proof of his identity and age at the time, but the social media platform still refused. Only after the Department of Homeland Security intervened did Twitter finally take the posts down, but by then, the content had already accrued hundreds of thousands of views.
John Doe attempted to sue Twitter, but the case was dismissed under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, according to NCOSE.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
