Title: Exploitation of Children Online is Increasing, As Are The
Challenges In Preventing It 

Description: Reports of sexual exploitation of children online increased
by 35% during COVID-19. To address this alarming trend, federal agencies
have efforts underway to combat online exploitation. Today, we'll find
out more about these efforts and some of the shortfalls of existing
effort from GAO's Gretta Goodwin.

Related GAO Work: GAO-23-105260, Online Exploitation of Children:
Department of Justice Leadership and Updated National Strategy Needed to
Address Challenges 

Released: December 2022

[Music]

[Gretta Goodwin:] The online landscape has evolved, and so have the
tactics used by predators attempting to exploit children online.

[Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for
news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm
your host, Holly Hobbs. Reports of sexual exploitation of children
online increased by 35% during COVID-19. To address this alarming trend,
federal agencies have efforts underway to combat online exploitation.
Today, we'll find out more about these efforts and some of the
shortfalls of existing efforts from Gretta Goodwin, an expert on federal
law enforcement. Thanks for joining us.

[Gretta Goodwin:] Thank you for having me, Holly.

[Holly Hobbs:] So Gretta, do we know why reports of exploitation of
children online increased so substantially during the pandemic?

[Gretta Goodwin:] We do, Holly. And it has a lot to do with the internet
and the fact that children are online more and more. And so the internet
itself has enabled individuals and other groups to exploit children
online in a number of different ways. So when you think about this--you
think about grooming; you think about sextortion; you think about how
the internet and the technology has enabled the production, the
creation, and the dissemination of sexual abuse materials. And also the
ability to access and store these materials online have just led to an
increase in this exploitation. And a lot of that has happened during
COVID. When we spoke with the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, NICMEC, we learned from them that in 2021, they received 29.4
million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. That was up
about 35% from the number of reports that they received in 2020.

[Holly Hobbs:] And what about the role of social media? Has it
contributed to exploitation?

[Gretta Goodwin:] Social media and communication platforms are of
significant concern. For example, gaming. So these gaming platforms
allow for the interaction to happen between children and adults because
they're in these gaming rooms or in these chat rooms. And so that
interaction becomes normalized. And that creates an opportunity for
predators to groom children or to initiate contact. And that begins the
process of exploitation. 

[Holly Hobbs:] So what are some of the challenges that law enforcement
face in trying to prevent child exploitation online?

[Gretta Goodwin:] Some of the challenges include their ability to just
keep up with the pace of the technology. The technology is changing and
increasing at lightning speed, and it's increasingly difficult for the
law enforcement to keep up with it. Law enforcement also is having
difficulties maintaining a skilled workforce. Hiring and recruiting and
training someone who actually has the ability to understand and know
what the technology is, that's been a challenge. And then just the
increasing number of tips that have been coming through to the hotlines
or to law enforcement. The numbers of tips are extremely high, and law
enforcement just has had some difficulty keeping pace with that. The
scale of sexual exploitation and the abuse of children is increasing and
it's outstripping the U.S.'s and global government's capacity to
respond.

[Holly Hobbs:] So what are federal law enforcement agencies doing to
combat this increase?

[Gretta Goodwin:] So there are over 20 different federal agencies--some
law enforcement, some non-law enforcement--as well as some government
agencies and non-governmental agencies. And they're all working together
because they have roles in combating the sexual exploitation of children
and the online exploitation of children. Law enforcement in particular
has been setting up investigative task forces. Federal law enforcement
has also been sharing different innovations as it relates to science and
technologies to ensure that the state and local level are aware of the
emerging technologies that might be facilitating this online
exploitation. Federal law enforcement is also conducting public
awareness campaigns. And that can be really useful for parents to have a
good sense for where the danger signs are, what the challenges might be,
and ways that they can spot when something might be happening with their
child. 

[Holly Hobbs:] Congress has required the Department of Justice to have a
national strategy for combating and reducing child exploitation online.
What all does that entail?

[Gretta Goodwin:] Yeah, so the Protect Our Children Act of 2008 asked
for a framework and develops requirements to address child exploitation.
So DOJ is to develop a strategy and implement that strategy. DOJ is also
required to designate a senior official to be responsible for
coordinating and implementing that national strategy. And the strategy
is supposed to be updated every two years. In addition, there are about
19 elements of that strategy that are supposed to be examined, and it
includes developing goals, objectives and targets. It also is asking DOJ
to develop and pay attention to a trend assessment so that law
enforcement would have a good idea for what the emerging issues are or
what the new technologies might be that might facilitate this online
exploitation. And then, they're supposed to see how well and how
efficient these activities are actually working.

[Holly Hobbs:] And we looked at whether the Department of Justice is
meeting these requirements. What did we find?

[Gretta Goodwin:] So what we know, Holly, is that DOJ hasn't updated the
strategy as required by the act. So the act passed in 2008. But since
that time, DOJ has only issued two national strategies--one in 2010 and
one in 2016. It's 2022, and so there hasn't been a national a new
national strategy in six years. We also know that DOJ hasn't designated
a senior official to be the national coordinator. So since the passage
of the law, there have been nine national coordinators in that role, but
they've been detailees. And so there's been no formal designation of a
senior official as a national coordinator. Even DOJ has told us that
this results in a lack of continuity of leadership over this national
strategy. When I talked about the 19 required elements that should be
included in the strategy itself, DOJ has only fully included seven of
those 19. So less than half of those elements are included in the
current strategy, which in and of itself is over six years old.

[Holly Hobbs:] What impact could all this have? 

[Gretta Goodwin:] While DOJ told us that delays in updating the strategy
haven't negatively affected their ability to investigate and prosecute,
the existing strategy from 2016 doesn't comply with the law and doesn't
align itself with the new and evolving challenges-- such as this
increased access to children by perpetrators online. The current
strategy from 2016 doesn't align itself with the encryption challenges
that we know exist, and doesn't speak to the fact that the dark web
exists.

{MUSIC}

[Holly Hobbs:] So Gretta just told us that reports about child
exploitation online have increased substantially in recent years. And
that new and increasing use of technology has made it harder for law
enforcement to combat this abuse. But, that the existing national
strategy is dated and doesn't include all the elements required. So,
Gretta, what more do we think the Department of Justice should be doing?

[Gretta Goodwin:] So we think that addressing the requirements set forth
in the Act would be a great start. We know that reported instances of
the online exploitation of children have increased dramatically. And the
technology and the access to online information only heightens the
issues that law enforcement faces. One of the requirements of the
strategy is that the Department of Justice focus on and be ready to
respond to emerging trends. And if you think about the increase in the
technology and things that have been happening on the Internet, we're
talking about a strategy from 2016 that is trying to address things that
have happened in 2020, 2021, and 2022. So the current strategy in and of
itself is outdated.

[Holly Hobbs:] And last question, what's the bottom line of this report?

[Gretta Goodwin:] Children are among our most vulnerable populations,
and the Congress recognized the need for an overall strategy to combat
the online exploitation of children. The online landscape has evolved,
and so have the tactics used by predators attempting to exploit children
online. An updated strategy that adheres to the law could strengthen
DOJ's ability to address the online exploitation of children in the most
efficient and effective manner possible.

[Holly Hobbs:] That was Gretta Goodwin talking about GAO's recent review
of the Department of Justice's efforts to combat child exploitation
online. Thanks for your time, Gretta.

[Gretta Goodwin:] Thank you, Holly.

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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