BREAKING NEWS: Ted Cruz Holds Texas-Based Senate Hearing To Demand Big Tech Action On Revenge Porn

3 months ago

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing in Dallas, Texas, to demand action from big tech companies to combat revenge porn.

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Transcript

00:00:00You

00:00:30Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to a field hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation

00:00:37This is a field hearing on the take it down act ending big tech's complicity in revenge pornography. I

00:00:45Want to start by thanking the University of North Texas at Dallas for providing the venue for today's hearing

00:00:52Including the UNTD staff that have worked so hard behind the scenes to put this event together. I

00:00:58Owe another huge thanks to the UNTD Dallas campus police and the state troopers

00:01:05Who are providing security this afternoon? Thank you. And of course, thank you to our witnesses for testifying today and

00:01:12to our audience for taking the time to be here in person if

00:01:17You are a victim of revenge or AI generated explicit imagery in the Internet age

00:01:25your life changes

00:01:27Permanently

00:01:28you most likely are a woman or a young girl and

00:01:34you most likely have been targeted by someone, you know, and

00:01:38If you do not happen to be a celebrity

00:01:41You most likely are still struggling

00:01:44To have the images of you removed from the Internet

00:01:50The scourge of so-called revenge pornography is not new

00:01:54It has been with us sadly for decades

00:01:58however, new generative AI tools

00:02:01Have made creating realistic

00:02:04yet fake

00:02:06explicit images and videos of real people

00:02:10easier than ever

00:02:12Due to advances in technology now anyone can become a victim

00:02:19And it's increasingly affecting a particularly vulnerable population

00:02:25Teenage girls

00:02:27High schools across the country are seeing an explosion of AI generated

00:02:34sexually exploitative images of female students

00:02:40Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of them

00:02:44These images are often created and spread by male classmates

00:02:51We've seen almost identical cases

00:02:56In New Jersey

00:02:58Where a male classmate created and shared fake

00:03:02sexually explicit images of

00:03:05their underage female classmates

00:03:08We've seen it in Illinois

00:03:10Where boys altered dozens of their female classmates prom photos

00:03:15to create fake nude images

00:03:19We've seen it in Washington

00:03:21Where a boy at a dance uses AI to virtually strip his female classmates dresses off

00:03:28We've seen it in

00:03:30California

00:03:31Where three separate schools around Los Angeles in Beverly Hills

00:03:36Calabasas and Laguna Beach

00:03:38Have had incidents of students using AI to create inappropriate

00:03:44sexually explicit images of their classmates

00:03:48We've seen it in Florida

00:03:50where middle school boys created sexually explicit images of their 12 year old and 13 year old classmates and

00:03:58We've seen it here in Texas

00:04:00where a boy targeted a group of female friends and

00:04:04shared realistic

00:04:06but fake

00:04:08sexually explicit images

00:04:10in each case

00:04:12this cruel filth

00:04:15Was then sent to classmates

00:04:18further exploiting and

00:04:20embarrassing the victims I

00:04:23suspect that there are many many more instances that are never reported to law enforcement and

00:04:29That don't make the nightly news

00:04:32State lawmakers across the country have been taking action

00:04:36including here in Texas

00:04:38But the online nature of these would-be crimes

00:04:42Demands a federal solution to provide peace of mind to all victims

00:04:47That's why earlier this month. I was proud to join with Senator Amy Klobuchar a

00:04:54Democrat for Minnesota

00:04:55to lead a bipartisan group of 14 senators 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats

00:05:02to introduce the take it down act

00:05:06Also joining me last week in introducing this legislation

00:05:10Where senators Shelley Moore Capito?

00:05:13Richard Blumenthal Jackie Rosen Cynthia Lummis Ted Budd

00:05:19LaFonza Butler Todd Young Joe Manchin

00:05:24Bill Cassidy

00:05:25John Hickenlooper Martin Heinrich and John Brasso

00:05:30since then

00:05:32Senators John Thune Roger wicker and Marco Rubio have all joined with the effort as well

00:05:38And there is a companion bill underway in the United States House

00:05:42being led by representative Maria Salazar

00:05:46Our bill has garnered support from over 40 organizations across the political spectrum

00:05:53Including organizations that are both left-leaning and right-leaning advocacy groups across the political spectrum

00:06:00It's garnered support from unions from law enforcement and from industry as

00:06:07the support for this bill plainly indicates

00:06:10This is not and should not be a partisan issue and it is imperative that Congress act quickly

00:06:18to protect the victims

00:06:20The take it down act will make it a federal crime with real jail time

00:06:25for publishing online

00:06:28Non-consensual sexually explicit images of another person

00:06:32with heightened penalties if the victim is a child

00:06:37this applies even if the image is AI generated and

00:06:42It also applies in cases where the original image was created

00:06:47consensually

00:06:48But the depicted individual did not consent to its publication

00:06:53It also makes it a crime to threaten to publish these images online

00:06:59thereby covering the associated problem of

00:07:03Sextortion which we're seeing more and more targeting young people

00:07:08In addition the take it down act is the first of its kind to incorporate a notice and takedown

00:07:16Requirement for social media and other websites that allow users to post these images

00:07:22This means that tik-tok and Twitter and snapchat and Instagram will have processes in place

00:07:30to receive and

00:07:32to immediately act upon complaints from victims

00:07:37Notice and takedown is a critical remedy for victims who want the images and all the copies of them removed

00:07:45So they don't spread further

00:07:48Especially in cases where the victim may not even know

00:07:51Who initially posted the images

00:07:55As the Supreme Court stated in a 2014 case concerning restitution for the possession of child pornography

00:08:02quote

00:08:04Every viewing of child pornography is a repetition of the victim's abuse

00:08:11This is no less the case for victims of non-consensual so-called revenge pornography and

00:08:18For victims of realistic but fake

00:08:23computer-generated deep fake

00:08:26sexually explicit images

00:08:29Well many social media companies purport to have a zero tolerance policy for posting

00:08:35non-consensual sexual content in

00:08:38Practice it can be very difficult for victims to file report who file reports to have the images removed

00:08:45The take it down act ensures that social media

00:08:49Prioritizes reports from victims and if they don't comply it empowers the Federal Trade Commission to pursue

00:08:57enforcement actions

00:08:58The take it down act has been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee

00:09:02Where I sit as the ranking member it is one of my top priorities that this bill

00:09:09Be placed on the next committee markup so that it can be passed out a committee and that it can receive Senate floor

00:09:16consideration as soon as possible I

00:09:21Now want to introduce the witnesses are here today for this hearing

00:09:24We are honored in

00:09:27particular to have testifying to 15 year old victims of

00:09:31AI generated sexually exploitative images

00:09:36We have miss Francesca Mani of Westfield, New Jersey and

00:09:41We have miss Elliston Barry of Aledo, Texas

00:09:45almost unbelievably

00:09:47both of them

00:09:49Were victims of this heinous activity in the very same month

00:09:56October of 2023 while living nearly 2,000 miles apart

00:10:01Today they are together in person for the first time

00:10:05To ring the national alarm bell to tell their stories on the growing spread of deepfake

00:10:12Sexually exploitative images of minors nearly all of which are targeted at young girls

00:10:20Being a victim of this horrendous practice is deeply traumatic

00:10:26Choosing to speak out about it on a national level

00:10:31on a national stage

00:10:32with TV cameras

00:10:36Requires another level of courage and verve

00:10:39Thank you to both of you for being here. I know it's not easy. Thank you for telling your story

00:10:44Thank you for having the courage to tell your story

00:10:48for other young girls and other young boys

00:10:52Who might be victims of this going forward?

00:10:56Both Francesca and Elliston are accompanied by their equally tenacious mothers

00:11:02Elliston's mother mrs. Anna McAdams will also be testifying today. I

00:11:07Am also pleased to have here today another Texas resident

00:11:12Miss Holly Toups

00:11:14Who was the victim of?

00:11:17non-consensual

00:11:18Intimate image publication over a decade ago

00:11:23Let's be clear

00:11:25Holly has been fighting for over 10 years

00:11:28To get her images taken down from the web

00:11:32This is inexcusable

00:11:34It is well past time that Holly and other victims of so-called revenge pornography see justice

00:11:43Finally I'm honored to be joined by two other tireless advocates

00:11:48Miss Andrea Powell

00:11:51Who has over 18 years of experience

00:11:55advocating for survivors of trafficking

00:11:58sexual exploitation and

00:12:00sexual abuse and

00:12:02Also, mr. Stephan Turk Heimer

00:12:05From the rape abuse and incest national network or rain

00:12:10Which is also a supporter of the take it down act

00:12:14Thank you all for taking the time to be here today

00:12:17And I'd now like to recognize miss Powell to give her opening statement

00:12:23Dear senator Cruz, thank you for having me here today. Again. My name is Andrea Powell

00:12:27I am an expert and advocate on sexual exploitation human trafficking and image based sexual violence for the past 20 years

00:12:34I've worked alongside more than 2,000 survivors to create safe homes

00:12:39support law enforcement and medical interventions and support both child and adult victims and advocates for critical policies such as today and

00:12:46That will give survivors access to protection justice and healing

00:12:49I am the author of believe me an advocates account of finding justice for victims of sex trafficking and a founding partner to the first

00:12:57survivor created AI facial recognition solution to technological deepfake abuse electro AI

00:13:03I am here today to speak on the most pervasively rising form of sexual violence harming women and girls

00:13:09Which is known as deepfake abuse as a survivor of sexual assault as a teenage girl from Central, Texas

00:13:15I never thought my silence in the face of my own abuse was a privilege. I never told anyone that was my choice

00:13:22Today I'm standing up for survivors of what is known as image-based sexual violence

00:13:26Which by design humiliates victims by showing the entire world their abuse often before they even see it

00:13:34However, many and very few of the resources to ensure their abuse images are removed and never again uploaded

00:13:40Meanwhile their abusers continue to share and degrade them with little to no recourse

00:13:46The term deepfake abuse is in fact a term coined by reddit user in

00:13:492017 who went on to create what is arguably the largest sexually explicit website?

00:13:54Mr. Deepfakes where women and girls are exploited is one of 9,000 such websites hosted by Google

00:14:00There is nothing fake about the pain that deepfake abuse causes in

00:14:052022 nurse practitioner and candidate for the Virginia House of Representatives

00:14:09Susanna Gibson was harmed in this way when her non consensual real videos of her with her husband were

00:14:14Distributed and then reported on by the Washington Post

00:14:17Creating a road map to her abuse rather than being treated as a victim of sex crime

00:14:22Susanna was exploited by the media the public and those who shared her content

00:14:26Shortly thereafter deepfake abuse content of Susanna was also online. She lost her job her candidacy

00:14:33Experienced terrifying threats to her and her family at their home and almost took her life in order to get her content down

00:14:40Susanna like many could not rely upon law enforcement because there were no laws

00:14:44To protect her like most victims of deepfake abuse Susanna had to create her own digital rape kit

00:14:51painfully locating each abuse image

00:14:53Contacting each platform and website hoping they would take mercy on her and take the content down most did not

00:15:00Susanna now runs a nonprofit advocating for survivors like herself

00:15:04Braised Louie considered ending her life when her former partner created both

00:15:08Non-synthetic and deepfake abuse images of videos of her her content was over 800 URLs across the world

00:15:15And currently over a hundred and forty of these URLs are hosted by Microsoft Asia

00:15:20Having just graduated from the University of California Berkeley and a venture capitalist

00:15:24But he's was shocked when law enforcement asked her if she was just a prostitute

00:15:29The truth of the matter is anyone can be a victim

00:15:32Whether or not they've exchanged the content willingly whether or not it was created by eat deepfake abuse

00:15:37But no one should be a victim

00:15:39Deepfake abuse is growing at astounding rates estimates indicate deepfake abuse has grown

00:15:453,000% since 2019 with over 300 apps often free with a simple search online

00:15:50I believe this directly contributes to situations like teen boys finding and using online abuse apps to notify their female classmates and teachers

00:15:59It's a digital virtual gun that is loaded and aimed at the faces and lives of women and girls

00:16:04Such as those testifying before you today

00:16:07So you have the app stores that monetize the apps the software developers that create it the platforms that host it and the websites that

00:16:13Explicitly create a form of organized sexual violence that is coordinated and monetized some creators make over

00:16:20$20,000 a year they hire assistance in fact deepfake abuse has become a dark culture that celebrates the abuse and sexual

00:16:27Expectation of women and girls a simple look at the forums of websites like mr.

00:16:31Deepfake show there's a culture emerging that validates the creators even young boys and rewards the violence

00:16:37Well tech platforms like meta and bumble loudly partnering with efforts that just stop ncii to remove images the abuse still remains

00:16:44I earlier mentioned a young woman named Breeze Louie

00:16:47Breeze went on to found the very tech solution that she needed in her darkest hour

00:16:52Electro AI uses AI facial recognition software to partner with platforms and give individuals their consent back

00:16:59This gives the control and safety back to individuals and it saves them time and resources on the platforms

00:17:05Electro AI demonstrates through survivor leadership once again that we actually can solve this problem

00:17:11Survivors should have laws that match the crime

00:17:14Perpetrators should be held accountable and I stand before you today

00:17:18With the hope that we can make that possible because we can stop deepfake abuse. I know we can

00:17:23Thank you, Miss Powell for your testimony and thank you for your advocacy speaking up on behalf of victims everywhere

00:17:29Mr. McAdams

00:17:32Thank You senator Cruz

00:17:34On October the 2nd we woke up to the news that devastated our lives forever

00:17:39The previous day a fellow classmate decided a fate for my daughter and her eight friends that they would never have imagined for themselves

00:17:46He decided to take beautiful innocent pictures off of their social media platforms

00:17:50And impose nude body parts onto them using an AI app from google called d and gg

00:17:56On snapchat, he made multiple accounts

00:17:59He friend requested people and blasted in the fake nudes of the girls

00:18:02It is important to draw attention here to the fact that he didn't just take someone else's nudes and put their faces on them

00:18:08Instead he took their actual bodies and used AI

00:18:11To make the images look even more real

00:18:14These images are child pornography

00:18:16These girls were 14 years old

00:18:19Their innocence was taken that day

00:18:22In just 24 hours everyone in their social group had seen these pictures and they were being sent out to the entire high school

00:18:29That week became a nightmare

00:18:31Some of their friends asked him why he was doing it

00:18:34And his response was that he wanted to go out with a bang and he wanted to ruin the girls

00:18:38In today's world those words are some of the scariest

00:18:42In today's world those words are some of the scariest

00:18:46We live with school shootings on a regular basis in this country. You could only imagine the fear those words caused the girls

00:18:53Would he come to school with his intent to hurt them? Would he kill himself hurt himself?

00:18:58The girls didn't want to go to school at all that week

00:19:01On friday of that week the girls did go to school and the school went into lockdown

00:19:05It seemed to the girls someone was after them

00:19:08We are thankful that it was nothing more than a false alarm

00:19:11But during this lockdown this boy decided to go onto his account and continue to terrorize

00:19:17That allowed the school's tech team to catch him

00:19:20it is

00:19:21So shocking to be violated in this way first having nude sent out

00:19:25That you didn't consent to and second then having the fear that your life might be in danger

00:19:31What he did was malicious. He chose his victims and he reveled in their torture

00:19:36Though he caught though he was caught he was still not allowed

00:19:39We were still not allowed to know his identity the sheriff's office in the school said that they had to protect him as a minor

00:19:45Our girls felt jaded by this. They were the victims not him

00:19:50We were able to have the school do a title nine investigation and once that was completed we were able to know his identity

00:19:57The school sent him to in-school suspension but could not tell us when he was coming back

00:20:02So the rest of the fall semester was spent in fear that he would come back to school without a warning

00:20:07My husband and I went to the school board

00:20:09Our plea was for them to expel him indefinitely

00:20:12The school board argued that there was nothing in the student code of conduct to cover these ai offenses

00:20:18The perpetrator was charged with sale distribution display of harmful

00:20:22Material to a minor it was a class a misdemeanor

00:20:26Instead of having our day in court our parker county determined that he was not a harm to anybody and just gave him probation

00:20:33When he turns 18, his record will be expunged. He will walk away unscathed

00:20:37However, our girls will forever live in fear that when they apply for a job or go to college these pictures might resurface

00:20:45He chose a fate for our daughters that we cannot change

00:20:48There needs to be consequences for what he had did

00:20:51If we do not have stricter laws and punishments for this type of crime, it will only increase

00:20:55We are thankful that our girls have family friends counselors who support them

00:20:59They will come through this

00:21:01If the girls didn't have this support it could have turned into something worse something imaginable like mental breakdown or even suicide

00:21:09This is why the take it down act is so crucial

00:21:11This bill will hold even minors accountable for jail time for this crime

00:21:16And it would require snapchat and other social medias to take those images down after 48 hours

00:21:21As of two weeks ago snapchat had not responded to the warrant issued by our sheriff's department

00:21:26Nor to any of the requests that we made as parents online

00:21:29When I met with senator cruz's office two weeks ago

00:21:32They were able to get a hold of snapchat and get the accounts and images taken down. It took eight and a half months

00:21:38If we had been taylor swift, we would have it would have come down immediately

00:21:42This bill will give us a voice that we did not have before

00:21:45Thank you

00:21:48Thank you, mrs. Mcadams and thank you for your ferocious defense of your daughter

00:21:54Miss mary

00:21:57Thank you senator cruz

00:21:58I was 14 years old when a fellow classmate created ai nudes from just an innocent photo on instagram

00:22:05I was 14 years old when I was violated all over social media

00:22:09And I was just 14 years old when I feared my future was ruined

00:22:13October 2nd 2023. I had woken up to multiple messages from a friend

00:22:19Notifying me that photos were circulating social media

00:22:22Not just any photos pictures from a past instagram post with a nude body created by an ai app upon mine

00:22:29Fear shock disgust and disbelief were some of the many emotions that filled my head in that moment

00:22:35I was left speechless as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that this was occurring

00:22:40Having to admit to your parents was shameful as I still felt responsible and began to blame myself

00:22:46As I attended school, I was fearful of the reactions and opinions people had we live in a society that is built on social media

00:22:53So I convinced

00:22:54I had been convinced at least the whole school had seen these images and to this day

00:22:59The number of people that have these images or had seen them is still a mystery

00:23:04As it took eight and a half months to get these images off of snapchat that doesn't wipe the photos off of people's devices

00:23:12Every day, I will live in fear that these photos will resurface or someone could easily recreate

00:23:17As these pictures were being passed around. I still attended school and was expected to act like all as well

00:23:23I felt unprotected walking through school

00:23:26Safety was never a concern of mine until these photos spawned the school was little to no help as I said

00:23:31It was out of their control

00:23:34So

00:23:36The spread of AI nudes is unpunishable

00:23:38Because it isn't considered child pornography

00:23:41But as a victim of AI deep fakes it has created a tremendous amount of pain and this is why I come here and share

00:23:46my testimony

00:23:48My goal is prevent any other student from undergoing this issue

00:23:52Cases of students female and male are appearing every single day

00:23:56And the people behind this malicious act do not have any consequences

00:23:59My intent is to give victims a voice never had and hopefully turn this horrible situation into something good. Thank you

00:24:08Thank you very much miss barry miss mani

00:24:12First off a huge. Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their insanely busy schedules to be here

00:24:19It means a lot to me to be able to share my story and ask you to do

00:24:23The right thing by putting laws in place to protect women and chilled teenagers like me

00:24:31on october 20th

00:24:32I found out that a few of my classmates created AI

00:24:36Nude images of me and other girls in my school without our knowledge and our consent now

00:24:43What is consent?

00:24:45Consent is clearly and willingly agreeing to something without any pressure

00:24:50Well, we did not agree to anything

00:24:53Despite not seeing the images ourselves and hearing assurances that they have been deleted

00:24:59What happened on october 20th to me?

00:25:02And the other girls is unacceptable

00:25:04No child teenager or woman should ever experience what we have experienced

00:25:10I initially felt shocked then powerless and angered by the absence of laws and school policies

00:25:17To protect us now. I am determined to push for reforms

00:25:22The obvious lack of laws speaks volumes we girls are on our own and considering that

00:25:2996% of deepfake AI victims are women and children

00:25:34We're also seriously vulnerable and we need your help

00:25:38This meeting proves that the politicians here today

00:25:41regardless of being democrats or republicans

00:25:44Genuinely care their fathers mothers uncles brothers and many more

00:25:50They understand how urgent it is to fix this mess

00:25:55Coming together to tackle the misuse of AI is super important

00:25:59So huge thank you to everyone here and even those not here

00:26:03But backing the newly introduced AI bill or thinking about supporting it

00:26:08I'm 15 now what happened to me at 14 could happen to anyone

00:26:13That's why it's so important to have laws in place. I'm not here by choice

00:26:19You know discussing legislation

00:26:21Isn't exactly my ideal way to have fun on a wednesday afternoon in june

00:26:27But I know my voice matters without senator cruz's bill

00:26:31We'll continue to have teens making AI deepfake images of girls

00:26:37But AI is not just a toy for bored teens. It's also a tool for predators

00:26:44And that's really not okay

00:26:46To wrap this up this issue is pretty black and white

00:26:49Creating AI deepfake nude images without consent should be illegal and it's not okay

00:26:55And it's the adult's job to protect us with laws and our job to learn how to protect ourselves by protecting our image

00:27:04In conclusion while we've been focusing on the challenges and potential misuse of AI

00:27:10It's important to recognize that AI is not also bad

00:27:14It's a fascinating and rapidly advancing technology

00:27:17That has been significantly benefiting our society in the health care and science arena

00:27:22It's crucial. However, that we approach AI with a balanced perspective

00:27:27We need to educate ourselves about its capabilities and limitations

00:27:32Ensuring that we evolve and grow alongside this technology

00:27:37If we get the right laws in place and learn more about AI in schools

00:27:41We can totally tap into the benefits of AI without getting burned

00:27:45It's all about

00:27:46Finding the sweet spot where innovation meets responsibility where progress doesn't come at the cost of safety and ethics

00:27:53So there you have it my Wednesday plea for change

00:27:57I hope I didn't take too much of your time and that together we will make the digital world a safer place

00:28:03Not just for me, but for everyone out there. Thank you

00:28:07Thank you very much miss bonnie and and let me thank say thank you also to your mom who's here with you today and

00:28:12Who was with us in dc, uh two weeks ago as well. Thank you for sharing your story

00:28:18Miss toops

00:28:21Thank you senator cruz

00:28:23Over a decade ago. I suddenly found myself in a disturbing and unfamiliar universe

00:28:28Intimate images that were of a personal nature had been posted on a website and shared with the world

00:28:33As I entered this alternate universe. I wasn't sure what to do

00:28:37I was overcome with an eerie feeling knowing that there were people in real time looking at my body without my consent

00:28:44But it was not just pictures. There were horrible comments threats and personal information posted about me

00:28:50I immediately felt unsafe in my own home and uncomfortable in my own skin

00:28:55Everyone in my hometown was talking about the website

00:28:58When I was in public, I was approached by strangers who had no boundaries

00:29:01They had after all seen me topless

00:29:04They felt like they knew me and they assumed I wanted the attention

00:29:08As soon as I was able to get myself together. I emailed the website explaining my pictures were posted without my consent

00:29:15And requested that they be removed. This was after all an egregious invasion of privacy, right?

00:29:21I was caught in a website where I was not allowed to share my personal information

00:29:26Right

00:29:27I was confident they would agree and that would be the end of it

00:29:30However, they said they would be happy to remove my photos for a fee

00:29:35Shocked I responded. I would not be paying to remove my photos. They had posted without my consent. I would however hire a lawyer

00:29:43I wasn't sure however that I could afford a lawyer. So I first sought assistance from law enforcement

00:29:48However, there was little they could do at that time sharing intimate photos without consent on the internet was something new

00:29:55And the laws had not called up

00:29:57I reached out to a lawyer who agreed to send a letter to the website

00:30:01Demanding the removal of my photos, but nothing legally could be done. He felt as they were protected by section 230

00:30:10It looked as if they were free to do as they pleased. This was not acceptable to me

00:30:16How was it that they were protected and I was not?

00:30:20By this time the photos had been shared and saved on other websites compounding the trauma

00:30:26Someone suggested I contacted a private investigator to see what they could do

00:30:31He agreed to help me and within a few days. My pictures were removed from the original website

00:30:36As you can imagine I breathed for the first time in months

00:30:40He warned me however that that might not be over and I found myself checking the website

00:30:45To be sure that my pictures were not back up

00:30:48Wake up pour coffee check website repeat

00:30:52Just when I began to feel like it was over. They were up again this time on the front page

00:30:58The perpetrators bragged about their ability to do freely as they pleased because they were posted protected by section 230

00:31:06From there my photos continued to be shared from website to website

00:31:10It was like a whack-a-mole trying to get them down as they continue to pop back up

00:31:15The comments the harassment increased with the help of the investigator I met with another lawyer who agreed to help me

00:31:23I had gathered names of other local women posted on the original website. He agreed to assist them, too

00:31:29We filed a lawsuit

00:31:31Naming the host site as well

00:31:33Unfortunately at that point when I choose chose to stand up for myself and fight for my privacy the harassment got worse

00:31:41The original site was eventually shut down by the courts and the site owner identified

00:31:47After some time of wallowing in depression I became angry this could not stand I reached out to my state

00:31:54Representative which led me to connect with then texas senator garcia and texas state representative gonzalez

00:32:01I had the honor of contributing to texas passing the relationship privacy act aimed at safeguarding texas from this unwarranted harm

00:32:09While they were able to determine who started the website

00:32:12I was never able to confirm who posted my photos and how they got possession of them

00:32:18For months after I checked the internet every day to make sure my photos were not there

00:32:23Every day it controlled me

00:32:25I often think of the messages and the threats that I received

00:32:29And of others who have gone through the same thing. It's really hard to put into five minutes what that year was like

00:32:36These actions can inflict long-term

00:32:39Psychological personal and social repercussions for the victims. I have gone through a lot of therapy to get past it

00:32:48I'm still to this day

00:32:49Amazed that with the click of a button your body your privacy and your personal information can be exposed for the world to see

00:32:57We have come a long way since my photos were posted without my consent

00:33:01And while i'm grateful to see the progress has been made

00:33:04To protect others and there are protections being in place. There is still more to do

00:33:09I think we can all agree on the importance of privacy

00:33:12I think we can all agree that things of an intimate nature should be kept private and not disclosed to the world by individuals who seek harm

00:33:20Additionally that bad actors should not be permitted to create images with someone's likeness

00:33:26Thank you for your time and your attention to this

00:33:29Thank you, mr. Tubbs for telling your very difficult and harrowing story, uh, mr. Turkheimer

00:33:39Thank you

00:33:39Thank you. Senator cruz. My name is stephan turkheimer and i'm vice president of public policy for rain

00:33:44Rain is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization

00:33:48We created and operate the national sexual assault hotline in partnership with more than 1000 local sexual assault service providers across the country

00:33:55Over 4.5 million survivors and their families have been helped by the hotline

00:33:59We also operate about 30 hotlines for partners including the dod self-help safe helpline for the department of defense

00:34:04Rain also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence educate the public ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice

00:34:09And help organizations and companies improve their approach to prevention and response

00:34:13Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the critical issue of the distribution of non-consensual intimate images

00:34:18Often referred to as deep fakes revenge porn or non-consensual pornography

00:34:22Often referred to as deep fakes revenge porn or non-consensual pornography

00:34:25My testimony will outline why it's imperative for the united states

00:34:28To outlaw the creation distribution of these images and provide survivors with a means to remove them from the internet and stop the cycle of harm

00:34:35as you've heard from

00:34:37Everyone up here today

00:34:39Victims of non-consensual intimate image distribution often endorse a significant emotional and psychological distress

00:34:45Includes feelings of shame guilt anxiety and depression in severe cases distress can lead to self-harm or even suicide

00:34:52The emotional toll on victims underscores the needs to address these problems and for this bill to become law

00:35:00Distribution distribution of intimate images without consent can irreparably damage an individual reputation affecting both personal and professional lives victims may face stigma

00:35:09Discrimination and ostracism from their communities workplaces and social circles. The social consequences can be devastating and long long lasting

00:35:18Sharing intimate images without consent

00:35:20Fundamentally undermines an individual's autonomy over their own body and personal information consent is a cornerstone

00:35:26As miss money was saying of all interactions, especially those involving intimate or private matters

00:35:32outlawing non-consensual intimate image

00:35:34Distribution reinforces the importance of consent and personal autonomy and that's why it's so important that this actually becomes a crime

00:35:42Because criminalizing the distribution of non-consensual intimate images serves as a deterrent against malicious behavior

00:35:47It sends a clear message that such actions are unacceptable and punishable by law

00:35:54I want to underscore the lack of big tech support

00:35:58Intimate images have been around forever deep fakes are new

00:36:01It's the easy creation and distribution of these images has created the real problem

00:36:05We are standing on a precipice of proliferation of these images

00:36:08We know how harmful they can be but right now there is nothing requiring the tech companies to fix the problems that they facilitate

00:36:16Last week at the press conference

00:36:17I told the story of a federal prosecution for identity theft

00:36:20A woman had been in a brief relationship with a navy captain and shared images of herself in the context of that relationship

00:36:27After the relationship ended he created a facebook profile of her

00:36:31Friended all of her friends and new co-workers members of her softball team people at her gym

00:36:36And shared those photos and more with them

00:36:39There was enough evidence for a federal prosecutor to bring the case and for the jury to convict this person of identity theft

00:36:45But facebook who was asked 400 times to take down the photos would not

00:36:51Because they believed the fake profile was more real than the actual person

00:36:56Big tech they simply aren't going to fix the problem themselves

00:37:00Big tech needs this bill survivors need this bill

00:37:03We need this bill having legal recourse provides victims with a means to seek justice and hold perpetrators accountable

00:37:09It also validates the experiences of victims acknowledging the wrong done done to them and offering a pathway to closure and recovery

00:37:16I said earlier that rain runs the national sexual assault hotline where so many have found help

00:37:21I reached out to them this week to gather some stories about people that have been dealing with ncii and I was struck by how

00:37:27Often it overlapped with contact offenses. This is not just a crime of the internet

00:37:31It often flows from and leads to direct physical in-person abuse

00:37:35In many instances technology facilitated abuse overlaps

00:37:39this this

00:37:40This occurred at different points throughout the continuum or timeline of abuse

00:37:43I'm just going to give a couple examples from from people that have brought this up

00:37:47Technology is a tool to facilitate contact offenses. The survivor was groomed by a much older man online

00:37:52They said they were an online relationship at 13 14 with a predator and didn't know he was older

00:37:57Technology used during abuse the foster dad filmed himself hurting the visitor and also took photos of them

00:38:04Then

00:38:05The visitor states that their mother has threatened to share explicit photos of them

00:38:08If they didn't if they tell anyone that she has been allowing men to have sex with the visitor for money

00:38:13There's someone that was

00:38:15Sexually assaulted three years ago and took photos of it and now is being threatened by those photos being spread online

00:38:22This is a significant and pervasive problem and it's only going to get worse without help

00:38:25So thank you senator cruz for advocating for survivors and giving them a way to take back control of their own bodies

00:38:31Thank you for your time

00:38:34Well, let me say thank you to each of the witnesses for being here for for the advocates who speak to us

00:38:41For the advocates who spend your time speaking out and speaking out against this abuse. Thank you for doing so. Thank you for your courage

00:38:49And for those of you who have shared your own stories of being victimized

00:38:54That takes extraordinary courage

00:38:57It would be easy to say I I don't want to talk about what happened to me

00:39:02And you've each made the decision that that you're not going to do that. You're going to take the harder path

00:39:07Of describing the pain and the hurt and what happened

00:39:12And in doing that you're making a difference. You're making a difference for young people. You're making a difference for women

00:39:18You are making a real step to protect others and hopefully to prevent them

00:39:24From going through what you've gone through

00:39:28I have to say as the father of two teenage daughters. I'm horrified by what has happened to you

00:39:33and I hope

00:39:36That you're telling your stories

00:39:39Will help build momentum to drive congress to act

00:39:45It's well past time to talk about this we need to act we need to take up this legislation

00:39:49We need to vote on this legislation

00:39:51We need to pass it into law and I believe there needs to be real and serious consequences criminal consequences

00:40:00For doing to you what has been done to you

00:40:05I want to ask each of you briefly a question

00:40:09How important do you think it is?

00:40:11To hold big tech and websites accountable for taking the content down

00:40:19So

00:40:20I think it's

00:40:22immeasurably important because I i've met with

00:40:25Now over 50 survivors of image-based sexual violence both adults and minors

00:40:30And a mix thereof and we identified three core areas of desperate need and the number one resoundingly is having their images removed because

00:40:39when we think about

00:40:40Traditional offline sexual assault, which is also horrific. There's a post-traumatic stress factor, right?

00:40:46But you can't be post if you're always worried about the future of your violence being exposed online

00:40:53As I've mentioned there are technological advances meta with stop ncii

00:40:57But we need to do more and we also need to recognize that there's ever emerging smaller actors and websites and they too should be held

00:41:04accountable

00:41:05uh, so I I think

00:41:07Without that and i've been told directly by tech companies without legislation

00:41:11They will do nothing and it's not that they're heartless. It's that they're trying to avoid the communication decency act section 230

00:41:19Which my colleague here had mentioned earlier, so it's really about

00:41:22Bringing technology and law together to support and listen to survivors

00:41:27Mr. Mcadams

00:41:32I think like what she said it is very very important that we hold them accountable

00:41:36um

00:41:37Like I had mentioned

00:41:38This boy is going to go on with life and never going to be phased by what he did

00:41:43But the girls will live in that forever

00:41:45And I like what you said about being re-traumatized every time you think that those images might be out there

00:41:51So if um, we need as just common people that live every day

00:41:55We need to be able to get a hold of these tech companies

00:41:58And get them to take our images down and not have to know someone

00:42:02In order to protect our children

00:42:05miss barry

00:42:07Um, I think it's extremely important because as a victim of aidfakes it is took a toll on my mental health

00:42:16And ai crimes are just increasing and they're getting more accessible and more normalized and so far

00:42:22There's not much that us as normal people can do

00:42:25So holding tech companies accountable

00:42:28For allowing these images to still be up is really important

00:42:34miss bonnie

00:42:35um, I think

00:42:37Yes, I think it's important that they're held accountable

00:42:42however, if they have joined us

00:42:46Um realizing it's the right thing to do

00:42:48but if they don't join us, they um

00:42:54They uh

00:42:56It's shown that they should be held accountable because all those photos and pictures

00:43:01Um will live on their websites forever and I just don't think that's okay

00:43:07And just to be clear that these owners of these websites could take down these photos in maybe less than a minute

00:43:15Yeah

00:43:16miss tubes

00:43:18Yeah, I agree. I think that the them being held accountable and also

00:43:22Being cooperative would have stopped my photos from being shared so many times

00:43:27And I think if you're if they're cooperative and they have the tools to do that

00:43:32Initially, then it prevents a lot of what we've all gone through here today

00:43:35Well, and I will say you're telling the story of waking up each morning and checking each day

00:43:40Afraid that they'd be posted again. I think that was truly

00:43:43Haunting and powerful and and it underscores

00:43:46The repeated victimization that this produces

00:43:49Mr. Keller

00:43:52I think it's imperative that tech plays a role here. Um, and if they won't do it voluntarily

00:43:59They should be required to do so

00:44:01This is a problem

00:44:03That is not just facilitated by them, but they're created by them

00:44:07and

00:44:08The proliferation of these images is not possible without them

00:44:12And so they have to take a role in pulling this back there is not a situation where someone's creating a deep fake

00:44:20on their own without

00:44:21Without with the without the deep fake websites and then sending it in the mail. That's not what's happening here

00:44:26this is all facilitated by them and they have to be

00:44:30either part of the solution or

00:44:33required to fix it

00:44:36And let me ask again each of the witnesses very briefly and and

00:44:40Uh

00:44:41Do you believe that congress passing the take it down act making it a crime to post these images and creating a federal?

00:44:49Right to have these images removed. Do you believe that legislation would make a real difference in fighting this this threat?

00:44:55Absolutely, when you think of the crime of image-based sexual violence in particular deep fake abuse

00:45:00You have sort of like a grid here. You have the victim you have the initial abuser

00:45:04You have the platforms that facilitate the distribution of that abuse

00:45:09And then you have law enforcement law enforcement can't serve what's not in the kitchen

00:45:13If there's not legislation on the books on a state and federal level

00:45:17Then they don't have the capacity to engage oftentimes

00:45:20Because they'd like to and they can't this legislation creates a through line and honestly sends an important message to tech platforms

00:45:27And I don't care if they're big or small to be honest with you

00:45:30That we are taking this seriously up until now

00:45:33They've been in charge of what gets taken down or not and when good stakeholders get involved good things happen

00:45:39Otherwise, it doesn't those 9 000 websites that explicitly are designed for deep fake abuse

00:45:44Absolutely do so with the joy of knowing they're causing harm and they have to be held accountable

00:45:49And so do the platforms that host them and it's a great point that this applies to big tech

00:45:53But little tech and anyone else as well that yeah, ms. Mcadams

00:45:58Yes, I think it is imperative to pass this bill what we

00:46:02Experienced with our school district was that they didn't know what to do. So they did nothing same thing with our local sheriff

00:46:08They didn't have any laws anything in place. So they just did nothing

00:46:13So this take it down act is going to be the basis the starting point for now us to be able to go into the schools

00:46:19And work with our student code of conduct and change that so we're going to change it at every level

00:46:24And I think this is the beginning part of that

00:46:27ms. Barry

00:46:29As I mentioned before, um, these ai nudes are not considered child pornography

00:46:34So it doesn't count for anything. So allowing this bill to be passed it allows victims to have a sense of relief and safety because

00:46:42These photos will be off of social media within 48 hours

00:46:46But as it took eight months the spread of my photos could have gone

00:46:50For many many people I still have no idea but within 48 hours. I can be assured

00:46:56That it won't spread as much as it did as well as the person behind this act will get punishment

00:47:03Yeah, ms. Money

00:47:05um, I have one word and the word is yes, I think it's

00:47:10super

00:47:11important that this bill exists because it

00:47:15just proves and

00:47:18It just helps protect us and women and children

00:47:22ms. Tubbs

00:47:24Yes, I agree that this is this is vital I know that there have been

00:47:28Variations of laws passed across states to you know, try to combat this

00:47:32But I think this really encompasses like all victims

00:47:36And it's catching up with the times because you know when the laws were beginning to get passed

00:47:41we didn't have the ai problem, um, and I think the

00:47:44Take down provision is really vital because the sooner you can get them, you know

00:47:49Ideally, they don't go up right the sooner you can get them down the less likely they are to spread

00:47:54Um, and then also the mention of the threat of the posting, um, you know, that is just as bad

00:47:59I'm living under the threat that someone is going to post it

00:48:02Um, it is just as harmful to victims as the posting and so I think I think it's a great bill

00:48:08And I hope that it goes through right. Mr. Turcomer

00:48:13Yes, I think it's absolutely important I think that

00:48:18big tech little tech middle-sized tech

00:48:21None of them are really prioritizing the protection of victims and

00:48:26Having a criminal recognition of this crime is a recognition of the harm that it caused

00:48:31It's a recognition of the victims that are produced

00:48:34and

00:48:35to get

00:48:37Tech to take these things seriously in order to take them down in order to recognize them in order to remove them

00:48:43It requires that sort of criminal element

00:48:46Of the of the of the charge and so yes, absolutely

00:48:51Great

00:48:52So now i'm going to ask questions of each of you individually going a little bit further into the testimony that you prevented

00:48:58Presented and i'll start miss powell with you

00:49:01Um, thank you for sharing your story and and thank you for for advocating advocating for victims

00:49:08Can you talk about how image-based sexual abuse has has changed over the years?

00:49:15Absolutely, so

00:49:17Many of you here today are probably familiar with the avalanche of deepfake abuse

00:49:21It was created of taylor swift billy eilish and ariana grande

00:49:25What many don't know is that much of the bodies that were used along with their faces in this non-consensual sexual violence act

00:49:32Were the bodies of teenage and adult young women and what is infamously known as the girls do porn case in which girls were

00:49:40lured into san diego

00:49:42And then ultimately sexually assaulted and filmed during those sexual assaults while those perpetrators have been ultimately

00:49:50held accountable sort of

00:49:53What that shows is that what was off what was was non-synthetic abuse

00:49:57But obviously obviously quite horrific is now being repurposed for new abuse content of other individuals

00:50:04So what has changed is there's these overlapping intersections of different types of image-based sexual violence

00:50:10And what's also I think quite important to point out is that while these notify apps and other sources are easily found online

00:50:17As I demonstrated in my testimony

00:50:20It means that young people are being exposed to this violence in ever

00:50:25Epidemic ways and it's shifting the narrative to think that things like this

00:50:29Are okay

00:50:31And I think as we're talking about big tech and we're talking about law enforcement

00:50:34We're talking about perpetrators when you think about the bystanders and what kind of bystander do you want to be?

00:50:38And I think image-based sexual violence is challenging that

00:50:42I think that's very powerful

00:50:44Right now in your experience are our websites making it a priority to take these images down

00:50:51some websites are particularly those who are compelled to do so or have received excessive heat to do so like the

00:50:59Pornhub website, but we need to make sure that it doesn't again

00:51:02It doesn't matter your size or what's going on. You need to have a simple clear

00:51:07Understanding that this is about the survivor and their consent and not it's not up for debate

00:51:12Whether or not you want to take it down, but right now it's very much at the whim of those sites. Yeah

00:51:17And I know you also have deep expertise in working with survivors of human trafficking

00:51:23Can you share a bit about how image-based sexual abuse manifests in trafficking cases?

00:51:29Absolutely, and this goes for both minors and adults traffickers

00:51:33Just like everyone here use the internet

00:51:35And they quickly learned in the early 2000s that they could take photos of their victims and use those photos

00:51:42one to coerce them into not leaving for fear of those photos being distributed to

00:51:46Use those photos to market to individuals who wanted to buy them

00:51:50Either without their consent or if they're a minor and then ultimately and I know this personally there was a young woman

00:51:56who was

00:51:58mentally delayed she was a young in her early 20s, and she

00:52:02Was in my office one day and I was looking through a website called backpage.com looking for victims and working with law enforcement

00:52:08And I saw her photos. Well, I knew that that wasn't her because she was down the hall in my office in a coloring book

00:52:14So I contacted the website. They basically laughed in my face. I contacted law enforcement and they said what's the big deal?

00:52:19You got her out

00:52:20Anyway, and what I responded was with but the reason they're using her photos is because she looks very young

00:52:26And two months later a 16 year old pregnant girl walked into my office and she was the girl the trafficker was selling

00:52:32So they were manipulating her images long after she was out of her trafficking situation

00:52:37So when we think about it's a course of control

00:52:40If you think something horrible is going to happen to you, it's more likely you'll stay in a bad situation particularly if you're a child

00:52:47For fear of not wanting more bad things to happen

00:52:49And so that's how I see the intersection and where I think we need to have a coalescence

00:52:54of

00:52:55advocates and leaders in this conversation

00:52:58Thank you, Miss Powell

00:52:59Mrs. McAdams

00:53:01Thank you again for for sharing Elliston's experience. Thank you for

00:53:06Everything you're doing to making sure that this this never happens to anyone else's daughter

00:53:11You said that you first learned these images were being distributed

00:53:15on

00:53:16Snapchat

00:53:17Can you talk more about your experiences?

00:53:20Reporting the images of your daughter to snapchat and what kind of response you got

00:53:25Um, yes, so we started with the school, of course and letting them know and then went to snapchat

00:53:31Once we had figured out who the young man was we pressed charges with the sheriff's department. So we did a warrant

00:53:38And then I continued to go on to snapchat and try to get somebody to respond

00:53:43So you can't talk to anybody. You really can't email anybody

00:53:46You just send in a form and you kind of explain what's happening

00:53:50And then you never hear back from them and I was told by the sheriff's department that don't expect to hear back

00:53:55You're probably not going to hear anything back, even though we did a warrant

00:53:58So we really felt like our hands were tied. We weren't going anywhere. We were getting no response

00:54:05Well, and I will say and you told this story some when you and I sat down

00:54:11In my office along with Elliston three weeks ago and right before we introduced this legislation

00:54:17And we sat and you told your story to me of what had happened

00:54:22I asked in the course of the conversation. I said are these images still up?

00:54:26And you said yes, they still won't take it down. I've been trying for eight and a half months and they won't take it down

00:54:32And and I turned to my team that was in the office and I said I want you to get on the phone with snapchat

00:54:37this afternoon

00:54:38and if need be

00:54:40Put me on the phone with the ceo of snapchat and we are going to get these pictures taken down right now

00:54:46Within an hour they were taken down

00:54:49Now frankly, it is ridiculous. It should not take a sitting senator getting on the phone

00:54:55To pull those pictures down

00:54:57You should have the right

00:55:00if

00:55:01Elliston were a global

00:55:03Music star if she were taylor swift, this would be pulled down and they should be pulled down of taylor swift

00:55:09But they also should be pulled down

00:55:11For every teenager in texas and every every teenager and every victim in america. You should have the same right?

00:55:22And what's infuriating also is that demonstrates snapchat knows exactly how to pull it down

00:55:28It wasn't difficult. They didn't have any confusion about how to do it

00:55:32It just when you complained on behalf of your daughter

00:55:35It was not a priority for them

00:55:39That needs to change

00:55:43You also talked about the school's response to this issue how did the school

00:55:49Communicate to you and to the other parents, uh about what happened

00:55:54Um, they really didn't that was the hard part of it was we really had to be

00:56:00I had to kind of be that mama bear constantly calling constantly asking for meetings

00:56:05Um, you know my husband I went to the school board

00:56:07I mean, I couldn't get a response back from them

00:56:09It took weeks and weeks for them to actually get back in touch with me and we've still been working all semester

00:56:15I've been trying to get with them to just write

00:56:17Something in the student code of conduct so we're kind of ahead of this if it happens again

00:56:21So I think that their approach to it was we don't know what to do. So we're going to hope you're going to go away

00:56:27And so that approach can't be

00:56:30Um can't be how they attack it

00:56:32Um elliston and the girls were the third case that I know of i'm sure there's more at the school

00:56:37But all of those were just kind of swept under the rug because they didn't know what to do with it

00:56:41So, um, that's one of my pushes and I will say that when

00:56:46We got that word within 24 hours from your office that they had been taken down. I just cried

00:56:50I mean finally we got somewhere and somebody heard us, but it should be that way. It shouldn't have to go on that long

00:56:57Like you said anybody should be able to

00:57:00as a parent

00:57:01Protect my child, but also just a student be able to say hey, I want my pictures off of there

00:57:06Well, and so you've worked with the school district now and helping draft

00:57:11Policies or what is the status? No, I can't get them to respond to me

00:57:14So we've had a couple of meetings set up and then for some reason they've fallen apart and now we're you know

00:57:19We're into the summer. I still not have not heard back from them

00:57:22So I had to really push to even have a follow-up with the school board

00:57:26And then when I did their response was more we need to protect him

00:57:31We have a right to him

00:57:33And that was very maddening because he he did what he did. Um, our daughters were the victims

00:57:39So we really through this whole process. I felt like I really didn't have a voice

00:57:43well that that is

00:57:45Infuriating one of the things I hope when when the take it down act is enacted into law is making this conduct

00:57:52a federal crime and a felony

00:57:54I hope one of the things that will prompt is school districts across texas and across the country to adopt clear policies

00:58:01Against criminal conduct that that that that should be one of the next steps

00:58:07in response to this legislation

00:58:09can you also just describe your

00:58:13You're obviously a mom who loves your daughter deeply. What was it like as a mom to go through this experience and and what were the

00:58:20the

00:58:22What was it like for you personally as a mom

00:58:25um, it really was devastating to be honest, um as a parent you always think you're going to be able to protect your child and

00:58:32We had no way to navigate through this. So as she's crying as she's going through every day

00:58:37She's a very social person

00:58:39Loves everybody never meets a stranger and I just saw her kind of resort into kind of a shell

00:58:44And kind of become somebody that she really isn't

00:58:47Um since he's not been back this semester i've seen her kind of come out a little but

00:58:51She's always going to live kind of in the fear that something could appear

00:58:55um, and then for me as a parent, I still I don't have anything any way to protect her anybody could do this and

00:59:02So this is one step

00:59:05Closer to as a parent being able to protect my child

00:59:08Well, and even though the images are down from snapchat right now

00:59:11You don't know if someone has copies saved on their phone

00:59:14You don't know what other copies might appear sometime in the future

00:59:19Thank you

00:59:20uh, miss berry

00:59:22Let me say and elston. We've spent a little bit of time together

00:59:26You've got a lot of courage. And by the way elston both you and francesca. Y'all are doing an awesome job

00:59:33um, you're both

00:59:35Really articulate and and brave and and you're telling your story powerfully. So thank you for both of you in particular

00:59:43um

00:59:47Elston tell us

00:59:49How did you feel when you first found out what had been done to you

00:59:53I was terrified. It was something I had never even thought could happen

00:59:58And seeing that these images were on my phone. I was shocked

01:00:03I was scared

01:00:05And I couldn't even I didn't know what to do. It was terrifying knowing that

01:00:11These photos were going around without my consent without my knowledge and

01:00:15This was happening to my friends and I felt hopeless

01:00:19Now now you had a friend group that you that you went through this together

01:00:22How did how did the other girls who were targeted?

01:00:25How they dealt with this?

01:00:28I mean all of us were

01:00:3014 15 and we had just entered high school and seeing that these images were going around

01:00:35It scared all of us. It it's we're freshmen in high school

01:00:38And it just felt like our whole

01:00:42four years of high school was all

01:00:44Coming down in that moment because we'd always heard that your freshman year is most important

01:00:48It keeps you on track and two months of the school year. It's all falling apart

01:00:52And thankfully i'm so blessed to have that support around me. I

01:00:58Felt supported and I didn't feel alone

01:01:01And I think having a group was very beneficial

01:01:04But some of the many victims don't have that and they don't have anybody to run to

01:01:10Or to comfort them and help them and I think it's really important

01:01:13To allow everyone to know that this is happening and you aren't alone if this is happening

01:01:19Well, look and I I hope your experience of speaking out and and fighting to change change the law

01:01:26I I hope that helps you

01:01:28Gain ownership of what happened and and gain control that that I

01:01:32Think that will be part of moving on and I hope that it is and and so thank you for doing that. Thank you

01:01:40Uh francesca, thank you also for being here. Thank you for um

01:01:44your courage

01:01:47Can you tell tell us also?

01:01:51When you first found out what had happened

01:01:54How did it feel what what went through your mind when you first found out what had happened

01:01:59Well, you know at first I was shocked and you know

01:02:03um, I did

01:02:05um cry a little bit, but um in the end, I was just really mad because

01:02:13The school

01:02:15My school didn't have any updated

01:02:18AI school policies and I think that's

01:02:21Very important because if I had

01:02:24that AI school policy, I wouldn't be here sitting and stating the obvious because

01:02:31AI school policies, um protect us

01:02:35In our schools and I think every school in the u.s. Should update their AI school policies

01:02:41And am I right that that you now know the boys who who created these images? Yes

01:02:46And did they face any any consequences? Well, one of the boys did. Um

01:02:52What i'm aware of he did only

01:02:56face

01:02:57One consequence and that was being suspended for one day and the other boys didn't get any punishment

01:03:04And you're still going to school with with the boys who did that? Yes, they are attending my classes

01:03:10Which is completely unfair

01:03:12And I just wanted to say also that you know, my principal is a woman

01:03:18She's a mother and she should be sitting here right next to me fighting for laws

01:03:23um protecting her students against what has happened and she's

01:03:28And just the whole school administration didn't handle this job correctly

01:03:34Um

01:03:36And and elliston you also found out the boy who developed these images that took some time, is that right? Yes, sir

01:03:42And and he was ultimately transferred to another school. So you're not not going to school with him

01:03:47Yes, he was suspended for around a semester and we were told he

01:03:52Had the ability to come back to school, but his parents had taken him out

01:03:57And this you said was a boy. You didn't know terribly. Well, he was in class at the time

01:04:01But it wasn't it wasn't someone you knew very well, is that right? No, sir

01:04:04I had classes with him and he was just a peer of mine, but never had an actual

01:04:10Sort of friendship or anything like that

01:04:13Um francesca, how were the images shared with your classmates? Um, they were shared through snapchat

01:04:20And what was the experience you and your mom had dealing with snapchat?

01:04:24Um, you know, um, our lawyer lawyers tried to take them down and it

01:04:29They it took a while for them and they it was never taken down except from your team your team helped them take them down

01:04:42Uh, uh, miss tubes

01:04:45So, um, I don't know if I can answer that question because I don't know if I can answer that question

01:04:49Uh

01:04:52Miss tubes

01:04:54So your images your experience is a little bit different, uh from elliston and francesca

01:05:01um

01:05:03And you've been dealing with this for for over a decade. That's a long time to be be dealing with this

01:05:09Can you speak about how the awareness around

01:05:14Posting non-consensual sexually explicit images how that awareness has changed over time

01:05:20Yeah, um, we've come a long way. Um

01:05:23You know when it happened to me

01:05:25I was so blown away that this was something that was going on that people would do

01:05:31And I remember

01:05:33You know speaking with

01:05:34the police

01:05:36Like it was a shock to them

01:05:39To them

01:05:40um

01:05:41They didn't know what to do because again

01:05:42There was there was nothing for them to reach for and and rely on it as far as a law

01:05:47Um when I talked to my state representative at the time, I remember

01:05:51Him, you know leaning forward as I was talking and then just leaning back and like just utter shock. Um, so it took a lot

01:05:58um

01:06:00of me

01:06:02Having to educate people. Well, first I had to figure out what was going on to myself

01:06:06um, and then

01:06:08Understanding the issue and then helping others understand and it was really difficult. Um

01:06:13because it was still kind of new and the people that it had happened to

01:06:17um understandably didn't want to talk about it because it was traumatizing and then um,

01:06:22You know when you did speak out publicly there was a lot of backlash and a lot of harassment

01:06:26That came with it. So it was hard to kind of get the message out there

01:06:31Of what was going on and get people to understand it

01:06:34And and at the time it initially occurred did people understand how serious it was or is has that

01:06:41Understanding grown in the past decade. I think um once they

01:06:47Wrapped their head around

01:06:49What I was explaining

01:06:51um

01:06:52Because it was so foreign to them at the time

01:06:54and so I think once they wrapped their head around that they did understand the seriousness the thing that

01:06:59um, I think was was

01:07:01The underlying thread for everyone is was privacy like how

01:07:06Like that's such an invasion of privacy

01:07:09How is this happening in the first place, but also how come no one is responding

01:07:14And stopping it

01:07:16And are the images still online today

01:07:19Um as we sit here today, i'm not sure at some point I had to stop looking. Um

01:07:25You know, there was a point when they were they were so vast across, you know, so many places

01:07:32um, and the investigator that was helping me worked really hard to just

01:07:36Constantly go after them. But as we sit here today

01:07:38I don't know I stopped looking because I just no longer wanted to be controlled by that. Um, but I wouldn't doubt it

01:07:45and

01:07:46Can you describe a little more your experience trying to get websites to pull them down?

01:07:51And how they responded yeah, so my as I stated my initial response was um to tell the website

01:07:58Because I just figured you know, it was user generated. They didn't know any better

01:08:03um, and that didn't

01:08:04That didn't work out. Um, and so the police and then my next step was the law enforcement and they didn't really have any way

01:08:12um to stop that and then the first lawyer sent the the

01:08:17Letter which was ignored and then I went to the investigator and he did

01:08:22um, whatever he did to kind of get them temporarily down and then they came back up and they were ultimately only ever removed from the

01:08:28Original site by the courts when we when I ended up hiring an attorney and filing a lawsuit

01:08:34And were you ever able to figure out who had posted the images where they came from?

01:08:39um

01:08:40I I was not um, we were able to figure out who um started the website and

01:08:47Who was you know operating it?

01:08:49Um, but I was never able to figure out

01:08:52Um, you know, I had a lot of thoughts of how because some of the photos that were posted had never been sent to anyone

01:08:57um, so, you know, obviously

01:08:59I went into thinking, you know was my computer hat like all the things. Um,

01:09:04So that was you know another

01:09:07Scary thing was some of them had never been shared with anyone. Um, but no, I don't I still don't know

01:09:13Um

01:09:15Thank you, uh, mr

01:09:18turkheimer

01:09:19Um, thank you for traveling to texas today. I'm, sorry. It's it's so hot. Uh, this is

01:09:25Summertime in texas. We can't help that. Um, but but

01:09:29Come in november and it'll it'll be beautiful and you can get shorts and you can go play golf

01:09:33But it there is a trade-off we get

01:09:36um

01:09:38Your organization rain plays plays a very important role in protecting victims of sexual assault and abuse by running the national sexual assault hotline

01:09:47Uh, it's my understanding that rain has received millions of calls from victims of sexual violence over the years

01:09:55How often does rain receive calls and reports about image-based sexual abuse?

01:10:01It's a it's a really good question

01:10:04And um because of this this field hearing I I asked people on the hotline how many in the past few shifts

01:10:10They had been receiving so just sort of in the last week or less

01:10:14And um, they just did a quick, uh excel document for me and there are 20

01:10:20Sorry

01:10:23There are 36 in the last few shifts

01:10:26And that's in about a week. Is that the period or what? Not exactly sure what the exact period is

01:10:31But yeah, it's not very long. It's a few days. It's it's not an it's not months. No, it's not months

01:10:36And um, they talk about where they where they're where that's happening to them whether it's on tiktok or facebook or snapchat

01:10:43There's a lot of reddit on here

01:10:45and

01:10:46What often happens in these situations is is some of these are are non-consensual image sharing

01:10:51some of these are deep fakes and some of these are deep fakes that are

01:10:55intended to get the

01:10:57Visitor to the to the to the hotline who's complaining about this to create self self-created c-sam

01:11:04There are two parts of the hotline. There is a a phone number and there's also an online hotline

01:11:08The online hotline is primarily used by people that are under the age of 18

01:11:14And all of these reports are coming from the online hotline

01:11:18So do you have any data or sense of the frequency that that

01:11:24These non-consensual images are targeting

01:11:27Minors as compared to adults

01:11:29I don't have any really good data on it. Um, I just sort of have the anecdotal data on it

01:11:34Everything that comes off the hotline is anonymized. So I don't have the ages that are associated with these

01:11:39But the fact that they're coming from the online hotline does suggest that they're trending

01:11:43Younger and certainly that they're they're people that are under 18 are experiencing it

01:11:49And and how often does rain see image-based sexual abuse?

01:11:53In connection to other physical crimes like sexual assaults. Yeah, it's a really good question

01:11:59Um, and it comes up relatively frequently. Um, a lot of times people are calling the hotline

01:12:04Disclosing things that happened

01:12:06Their first disclosure is to the hotline and the person they're talking to is hearing about the whole story and the whole story sometimes

01:12:14involves

01:12:15a sexual assault and then pictures of that sexual assault and then sometimes it's it's the other way around where

01:12:21someone has been been groomed and sextorted and

01:12:25ends up being

01:12:26sexually assaulted after image-based abuse, so

01:12:30there are

01:12:32Sort of countless ways in which which sort of an image-based abuse which is sexual abuse ends up being an in-person

01:12:39contact offense

01:12:41And

01:12:42So you mentioned that the sextortion component of it

01:12:45Can you elaborate a little bit on on any information about how frequent this problem is?

01:12:50Yeah, um, so a lot of what happens for

01:12:55children online in sort of in grooming situations or in sextortion situations

01:13:00is

01:13:01the

01:13:02Person will the the the the person that's seeking the seeking the the survivor to create

01:13:09CSAM, um self-created CSAM does so by pretending to be a child themselves

01:13:14and

01:13:15um, they will

01:13:17send

01:13:18CSAM purportedly of themselves and try to get the child to create

01:13:22their own and oftentimes

01:13:25That's difficult to do for these people

01:13:27And the reason why is because a lot of CSAM is sort of marked through photo dna and so these sites will see it and remove

01:13:33It and so there's this market to create new CSAM that is evading these sensors

01:13:40Which is why the AI creation of CSAM is is so important to to these people that are looking to trade CSAM

01:13:47The second part of it is and they use the fake CSAM to get kids to create real CSAM

01:13:52and so you get that sort of relationship, um that is sort of exploding these numbers because

01:13:59As people have attempted to remove CSAM from the internet. It's created this

01:14:04market for new CSAM to be to be made and so that's that's sort of the

01:14:10kind of the economic

01:14:12Demand

01:14:13That has created the supply

01:14:15Well, and we've heard testimony in the senate about teenagers targeted with with sextortion

01:14:22where they

01:14:24may have been tricked into taking an explicit photo or several explicit photos and then

01:14:29The person to whom they sent it threatens to to make it public make it public to the world

01:14:35And and in some instances those teenagers take their own life and commit suicide

01:14:39have you

01:14:41Seen that potential pattern that is that is

01:14:46That is something that we have seen and it's something that's happening more and more frequently

01:14:50Um, the people that are creating the CSAM or excuse me

01:14:53The people that are soliciting the CSAM and and inducing and coercing teens into creating it

01:14:59Don't care what happens to these kids at all. All they're trying to do is empty their bank accounts

01:15:04And they'll keep doing that until there's nothing left

01:15:07And a lot of these kids don't realize that this isn't

01:15:11That this isn't that there are ways back from this

01:15:15And so end up taking their own lives

01:15:17Which is why it's so important for them to have some sort of agency to have some method

01:15:21to

01:15:22Combat this which is why I think this bill is is so so important

01:15:28In your experience have you seen

01:15:31How the non-consensual posting of these images

01:15:34Uh affects victims what what is the impact on the victims?

01:15:41You know, we see people call the hotline because they're feeling depressed they're feeling caught calling the hotline because they're feeling anxious

01:15:48They're feeling targeted. They don't want to leave their homes. They're they're they're having their life taken away from them

01:15:55and

01:15:58That is the common response when you feel that you've been violated when you feel like

01:16:04Your body is not your own

01:16:06And

01:16:10It's so important

01:16:12For those people to have their agency restored for those survivors to have their agency restored to have something that they can do

01:16:18And right now there isn't a tremendous amount that they can do

01:16:22It's very difficult to take back that control which is why it's so important that there needs to be some method

01:16:28That allows them to do so

01:16:30Thank you, uh, miss powell, I noticed you nodding emphatically during during much of what mr

01:16:35Turkheimer was saying and so I want to give you a chance

01:16:38To elaborate i'm going to give everyone a chance if there's any kind of final closing observation you want to make

01:16:44We're going to wrap up shortly, but i'll give everyone a chance just if there's something

01:16:48You don't want to leave without having said, uh, you'll you'll have that opportunity now, but but miss powell. We'll start with you

01:16:53Yes, I wanted to to close with um

01:16:56The story of a young man I worked closely with when matthew harrick was an emerging actor in new york his early 20s

01:17:03He began a dating relationship quickly realized the person he was dating was very controlling and ended it that individual made over

01:17:11Thousands of daybreak fantasy sites on a website called grinder

01:17:16Matthew tried to get the content down and well as over a thousand men

01:17:20And 1100 men came to his house his work attempting to assault him the more he ran

01:17:25The more he screamed the more they thought it was part of the game because of the way the ads were written

01:17:30Wow, he was targeted so badly had to move country

01:17:33He joined forces with I believe the most indomitable attorney in this field carrie goldberg

01:17:38Together they went all the way to the supreme court trying to get matthew's content off grinder

01:17:45To this day. It's still there

01:17:47And he is a internationally renowned advocate still living in fear

01:17:54And he's one of the bravest people I know

01:17:56And i'll close with this there was another young woman

01:18:00Who was desperate as a young actress had 50 at her bank account was told by a photographer take these images

01:18:06And i'll pay you but no one will ever know. It's you they even signed a document

01:18:10Within two years her images were all over the world and became one of the most infamous nude images on playboy magazine

01:18:17That was in the 1950s and that young woman's name is marilyn monroe

01:18:21We've been fighting this for that long and it's time. We actually do something

01:18:26Wow

01:18:28That's that's horrific and powerful, uh, mrs. Mcadams

01:18:34Yes, i'd like to to say something about

01:18:37Um since all this started and everything we've been getting all this traction with it

01:18:40I've had at least three or four moms reach out to me with their daughters having the same thing happen to them

01:18:46um, even to the point that

01:18:49Like he was talking about somebody shared her images then groomed her and then he showed up and raped her

01:18:56So it's like whoa, I can't stories that are coming out

01:19:01And so I just think that this is a good starting point to maybe stopping this abuse against our children

01:19:08Miss berry

01:19:10I just wanted to say that no student

01:19:13Or anybody for that matter should fear for their safety

01:19:16Which is why this bill is so important because it ensures the protection of all victims

01:19:21and allow schools

01:19:22Um to take issues like this seriously

01:19:25Thank you, miss bonnie

01:19:28um, I just wanted to say that

01:19:30Schools around the us should update their school

01:19:34Ai policies so students know how to protect themselves against it

01:19:39And I just think we should have more laws being put in place to help protect these women and children

01:19:46Miss tubes

01:19:48I just want to say thank you to yourself and to the other senators who have signed on to this

01:19:53Um, I understand that you know

01:19:55The world changes and moves pretty swiftly and we have to continue to revamp our laws to keep up

01:20:01but I didn't expect to still

01:20:04Um see this happening, you know a decade after um

01:20:09We tried to combat it the first time

01:20:11um, so i'm hoping that you know, this federal law will cover more victims and deter more um,

01:20:18And and give like he was saying, you know give people

01:20:21The ability, um to be able to be themselves again

01:20:25And to you know, take back control of their lives

01:20:29Mr. Turcotte

01:20:32Yeah, i'm very grateful for your advocacy in this area and I think that

01:20:37Survivors past present and future will be grateful for it as well

01:20:41there

01:20:42are not great

01:20:44methods for taking back control

01:20:46and there absolutely need to be um,

01:20:49and

01:20:51when you have a situation where

01:20:54You know, you try to upload a snl clip that is that is recorded on saturday night

01:20:59And you record you've said you try to upload it on sunday morning and it immediately gets taken down

01:21:04and

01:21:05Images that they know are child sexual abuse or images. They know are sexual abuse

01:21:11Um just get replicated over and over and over again

01:21:14is a situation where

01:21:16the platforms are prioritizing the rights of

01:21:21NBC universal

01:21:23Over people like this

01:21:25And it's going to take an act of congress to change that

01:21:30Well, thank you, I want to thank all of our witnesses today for being here

01:21:34and especially

01:21:35Elliston and francesca as as teenagers telling your story that

01:21:40You demonstrated a lot of bravery today and and I think a lot of people hurt you

01:21:44And and that's true of all the witnesses

01:21:47um

01:21:49It's my hope that your stories remind other girls and other boys who are going through this that that you're not alone

01:21:56And that

01:21:59Americans across this country are standing with you to end this horrific abuse

01:22:09As we've said throughout this hearing image-based sexual abuse is not new

01:22:14You heard from miss toops that she's been fighting for justice in her case

01:22:19For over a decade and your resilience is inspiring

01:22:22Every witness today knows this is exhausting and an emotionally draining fight

01:22:28I'm confident that the bipartisan support we have for tackling this issue

01:22:34Will cause congress to act and act decisively to address non-consensual sexually exploitative images online

01:22:43Perpetrators will be held accountable

01:22:45And victims will have an additional tool enforceable notice and takedown

01:22:49There are multiple bills pending in congress to address this problem. Many of them are good and positive bills that I support

01:22:55What the take it down act does?

01:22:57That is unique is number one make it a crime

01:23:00A federal crime and it addresses in particular

01:23:04not just

01:23:07Actual images that are posted non-consensually, but also deep fake images that are created using ai and it addresses both of them

01:23:14But it also contains the notice and takedown provisions and as mr. Turkheimer was noting

01:23:20There's a model we use to draw from

01:23:23Which is the existing laws governing copy copyright and that came from the digital millennium copyright act

01:23:30that places a federal obligation on tech platforms that if

01:23:34If you post a clip of snl if you post a clip from the lion king

01:23:39A clip of snl if you post a clip from the lion king

01:23:43If you post a george straight song online, you will see it pulled down and pulled down very very quickly

01:23:50Because congress has put a federal obligation

01:23:54On these platforms to pull down copyrighted material

01:23:58This bill takes that exact same mechanism. They know how to do it

01:24:03And it applies it here to non-consensual intimate images that you have the same obligation

01:24:08If the individual depicted in the image has not consented they have a right to have it removed

01:24:17I'm hopeful that this field hearing will help build momentum

01:24:21We have a broad bipartisan coalition behind this bill and i'm hopeful we see in the coming weeks

01:24:26The commerce committee mark it up and that we move to the floor and pass it into law

01:24:31And you don't have to take it from me. I think our witnesses today

01:24:35Have provided powerful testimony on why congress needs to act and act now. I want to thank

01:24:41Each of the witnesses

01:24:43For your courage your clarity your power

01:24:47State of texas and our country owes each of you a debt of gratitude

01:24:50Thank you for fighting to make a difference for women for girls for victims throughout the country and with that

01:24:57This hearing is adjourned

BREAKING NEWS: Ted Cruz Holds Texas-Based Senate Hearing To Demand Big Tech Action On Revenge Porn

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