WASHINGTON, D.C. – National organizations teamed up with the Department of Homeland Security secretary to unveil a public awareness campaign called “Know2Protect” to address online or digital sexual exploitation against children.
Alejandro Mayorkas, DHS secretary, called incidents where young children were sexually exploited from encounters that started online “an unimaginable horror”.
“The volume of the reports has increased more than 20% over the past 30 years. The number of urgent imminent reports involving a risk of a child in imminent harm has grown more than 140% over that same time frame,” Mayorkas said.
The new federal campaign is already flooding digital platforms like Facebook, and Instagram, educating parents and their children on how to combat or report exploitation, along with ways to support the victims.
“They used to have to groom them on the playgrounds, in schools and even in churches, now they groom them on the internet,” Dr. Stephen Bloomfield, a forensic psychologist said.
Bloomfield has been evaluating sexual offenders and sexual predators for more than 30 years. He said the internet has made it ridiculously easy for criminals to find the most vulnerable victims.
He added that online rejection is not an issue for child predators who are attempting to groom hundreds if not thousands of kids a day.
“The way it works is very systematic...they don’t bother with any child or adult that put up resistance,” Bloomfield said.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 36 million cyber tips of suspected child exploitation, which is why partners from the public and private sector are assisting the government in the public awareness campaign.
Bloomfield said he is still concerned about the reach of the public awareness campaign, saying kids who don’t have stable home environments remain the most at risk.
“My fear is that many of the kids who are groomed, have family problems and can’t talk to their parents, something else in the family context make them more vulnerable,” Bloomfield said.
High-profile partners include social media companies Meta and Snap, as well as Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and the National Police Athletic League.