The National Center on Sexual Exploitation's (NCOSE) 2023 Dirty Dozen List calls out 12 mainstream entities for facilitating, enabling, and even profiting from sexual abuse and exploitation.
Spokeswoman Lina Nealon tells AFN that over the past 10 years, the list has informed individuals who have then called on corporations, government agencies, and organizations to change problematic policies. This year, Spotify made the cut.
"We found hard core pornography, even rape scene pornography, on an app that Spotify tells us is safe for kids 13 and older," Nealon relays. "We've even heard of incidents where people – adults – are grooming children through Spotify by chatting using the titles of play lists that they're making."
For selling dolls the size of and with the anatomy of children, as well as spy cameras designed to film people in showers and changing stalls – like at Target – without their knowledge or consent, eBay also made the lineup. Likewise, Instagram has returned to the list.
"They've been trumpeting all sorts of child protection measures and changes, but the reality is they're still consistently listed as the top worst platform for a host of crimes, including extortion, adults soliciting children for sexually explicit material, and for child sex trafficking," Nealon explains.
The Dirty Dozen List includes a description for why these and the other nine tech platforms were selected. Methods for how the general public can take action are also provided. Additionally, NCOSE shares the victories it has claimed in the fight against sexual exploitation because customers got involved and chose to hold the companies accountable.
Apple, whose app store tops the list, reached out to NCOSE ahead of the list's release with an offer to renew meetings around safeguarding concerns.
