# data[].attributes.body
ChildFund. (2021). Protecting children online through policy:

Online sexual exploitation and abuse of children policy mapping report. Retrieved from https://www.childfund.org/uploadedFiles/NewCF/Impact/Knowledge_Center/ChildFund-Mapping-Project-Report-OSEAC.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
ChildFund. (2021). Protecting children online through policy:

Online sexual exploitation and abuse of children policy mapping report. Retrieved from https://www.childfund.org/uploadedFiles/NewCF/Impact/Knowledge_Center/ChildFund-Mapping-Project-Report-OSEAC.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
A screenshot by Fast Company in a condo game created by a Roblox player

# data[].attributes.body
https://connect.missingkids.org

Click this link to be educated more on how to identify child sex trafficking and what you can do to raise awareness. There are webinar trainings, tips, resources, and statistics available to anyone who is interested in learning.

ChildFund. (2021). Protecting children online through policy:

Online sexual exploitation and abuse of children policy mapping report. Retrieved from https://www.childfund.org/uploadedFiles/NewCF/Impact/Knowledge_Center/ChildFund-Mapping-Project-Report-OSEAC.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
A screenshot by Fast Company in a condo game created by a Roblox player

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
A screenshot by Fast Company in a condo game created by a Roblox player

# data[].attributes.body
Microsoft is collaborating with Roblox, Thorn, Kim, and The Meet Group to create the newest technology, Project Artemis, to fight online child sex trafficking and sexual abuse.

This new anti-grooming tool works by evaluating and rating patterns of communication and the probability that someone has the  intent to groom another person. These chats are flagged and sent to human moderators who can identify imminent threats for law enforcement, or notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with suspicions of child sexual exploitation (Microsoft, 2020).

Other software such as PhotoDNA is being used by hundreds of companies around the world to identify child sexual exploitation photos. Companies like Thorn, a nonprofit  that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse, continue to generate new programs.

Technology companies with a chat function who are seeking to protect children on their platforms can apply for use of Project Artemis cost-free. Law enforcement and non-governmental organizations are also eligible to apply (Thorn, 2020).

Microsoft. (2020). Microsoft shares new technique to address online grooming of children for sexual purposes. Retrieved from https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/01/09/artemis-online-grooming-detection/
Thorn. (2020). Meet the new anti-grooming tool from Microsoft, Thorn, and our partners. Retrieved from https://www.thorn.org/blog/what-is-project-artemis-thorn-microsoft-grooming/

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
OSEAC stands for "online sexual exploitation and abuse of children" (ChildFund, 2021)

# data[].attributes.body
According to ChildFund, most legislative efforts in the online sexual exploitation and the abuse of children are geared toward enforcement and the response to perpetrators.

Social workers and other roles within the multidisciplinary system that supports victims have the opportunity to engage in more macro-level advocacy for preventative community action and victim services.

Here are other bills involved in the OSEAC advocacy process.

Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 and The EARN IT Act: Both of these amendments focus on ensuring that the websites that promote or facilitate child sex trafficking are not lawfully protected and can be held liable in their role in the exploitation and abuse of children (Baker, 2018).

END Child Exploitation Act: This amendment aims to improve law enforcement's response to child exploitation online by increasing the number of days electronic communication service providers are required to keep content that is reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline. Due to the significant increase in child exploitation cases in the last few years, law enforcement are having a harder time investigating cases within the current 90-day window and want to expand the requirement to 180 days (ChildFund, 2021).

Baker, C. (2018). Solving Child Sex Trafficking Requires Addressing the Conditions of Vulnerability. The Gender Policy Report. Retrieved from https://genderpolicyreport.umn.edu/solving-child-sex-trafficking-requires-addressing-the-conditions-of-vulnerability/
ChildFund. (2021). Protecting children online through policy:

Online sexual exploitation and abuse of children policy mapping report. Retrieved from https://www.childfund.org/uploadedFiles/NewCF/Impact/Knowledge_Center/ChildFund-Mapping-Project-Report-OSEAC.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
According to a study done by the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, less than half of the providers they surveyed knew warning signs of sex trafficking, and even less knew the difference between child abuse and child sex trafficking. Most claim to have never been trained.

"Social workers should be careful not to assume that treating youth sex trafficking victims is the same as treating child abuse victims," said Christina Reardon of Social Work Today.

Education is essential. As mandated reporters, social workers have a responsibility to be able to identify whether their clients are victims in any regard. Workers should also understand the complex and unique needs of trafficking victims they support, as well as the laws and resources available to help and protect them.

Reardon also pointed out that motivational interviewing and walking victims through the change process in non-judgmental ways will be most helpful for building a trusting relationship with child victims who may be resistant to seeking services or leaving the sex trafficking lifestyle. It will be especially important to build a trusting relationship with a child who is being trafficked online because of the behind-the-scenes nature of the issue.

https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/032216p10.shtml

# data[].attributes.body
In the era of COVID and increased online interaction, the recruitment of minors has increased 125% on Facebook and 95% on Instagram.

Most offenders target 15 to 19-year-olds (Polaris Project, 2022).

Girls with disabilities are more likely to be victims of sex trafficking than their peers, according to a study done by the International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare (Franchino-Olsen, 2020).

Children of color are disproportionately vulnerable to becoming victims of sex trafficking. Research analyzes that this is because of the historical connections to past exploitation, objectification, and sexualization of ethnic communities (Inloes, 2022).

Children are more likely to be victims of sex trafficking if they have been abused, have low economic status, are in an unstable living situation, have trauma, or live in families struggling with addiction (Polaris Project, 2022).

Franchino-Olsen, H., Silverstein, H. A., Kahn, N. F., & Martin, S. L. (2020). Minor sex trafficking of girls with disabilities. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, ¹³(2), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhrh-07-2019-0055
Inloes, Kaylee, "Behind Closed Doors" (2022). University Honors Theses. Paper 1253.
Polaris Project. (2022, January 13). Analysis of 2020 national human trafficking hotline data. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://polarisproject.org/2020-us-national-human-trafficking-hotline-statistics/
Polaris Project. (2022, January 13). Child Sex Trafficking. https://polarisproject.org/child-sex-trafficking/

# data[].attributes.body
While communicating on Roblox, a 31-year-old man coerced a 14-year-old girl to film herself engaging in sexual conduct with the intent of viewing and transferring the media material. The situation went further when he picked the girl up from her home and kept her at his house, breaking her phone to avoid police. Investigators were able to recover the girl after tracking their conversations through Roblox and Facebook.

https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/prosecutors-Wisconsin-man-used-Roblox-game-to--505330101.html

# data[].attributes.body
- In a study on 31 sexual offenders, it was found that the offenders chose their victims based on the perceived neediness of a child, whether they stated their age in their profile, young-sounding usernames, and the presence of sexual content on the child's profile.

- The average age of perpetrator is 38.6 years

- Majority of offenders and victims exchange pictures on the first day

-  In a study done on conversation characteristics between decoy victims and potential online offenders, 89% of the offenders introduced sexual content in the first conversation. In 69% of the conversations, sexual content was introduced within the first 30 minutes. It took offenders an average of 3 days to mention meeting in person.

Georgia M. Winters, Leah E. Kaylor & Elizabeth L. Jeglic (2017) Sexual offenders contacting children online: an examination of transcripts of sexual grooming, Journal of Sexual Aggression, 23:1, 62-76, DOI: 10.1080/13552600.2016.1271146

# data[].attributes.body
^ Click the link to view the article.

Roblox is a multi-platform, roleplaying game that was originally created for kids ages 9-13. As of 2020, there are 230 million registered players and 43 million daily players world-wide. According to the National Center of Sexual Exploitation, kids under 13 play an average of 50 million hours a month (2018).

People are able to create an avatar that can explore worlds, play games, and chat with other players. People can also program their own games and build content with other people. As a game designed to cater to every imagination, there are many sides to its content.

Roblox claims that their programmers actively monitor content 24 hours a day, as well as filter the chats to ensure interactions stay safe and appropriate. There are also protections available to reinforce safety and security for younger players, however it is possible that people are able to code content that bypasses Roblox's settings.

A veteran player said in an interview that Roblox taught them how to code, but it also taught them how to hack programs. Roblox gave them the freedom to code in tons of new ways, which is the purpose of the game. However, some people have turned this freedom into an opportunity for modern slavery.

For social workers, it's important to note that "opportunity" is one of the factors considered when sex traffickers choose their victims. On Roblox, there is a lot of opportunity to make contact with children because most players are under 18. Opportunity expands when a chat function is introduced, and even more when that function can be hacked and changed to avoid Roblox's security settings.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Children today have more video games available to play than ever before. With so many different gaming consoles and variety of games, it is incumbent that parents are informed about the types of content their child may be exposed to. Today, we will look specifically at Roblox, helping you understand the game that young children everywhere are obsessed with.

What is Roblox?

Roblox was developed in 2005 by Roblox Corporation. As of September 2018, the game has 70 million monthly users. The game can be played on three main platforms: the Xbox One, online with either a PC or Apple computer, or on a mobile device through an app bought on either the Apple or Google Play store.  Last year, kids under 13 played 51.5 million hours total of Roblox in just one month, making it the top game for that age demographic. Millions of young children actively play the game, perhaps making Roblox in particular a target for sexual exploitation.

The purpose of Roblox is to both play and create a player’s own worlds with the help of other players..These worlds vary depending on the experience wanted, with popular games to choose from like Natural Disaster Survival, Work at a Pizza Place, Murder Mystery 2, High School Experience, and many others.

As mentioned, there are many popular Roblox games to play. These games are sometimes the creations of other gamers, but they also are the creations of Roblox programmers who are actively moderating the worlds to ensure that no sexually explicit or overly violent material is created within it. While in these worlds, there is a chat option to interact with other players which is useful for communication and game play. Parental controls can be set up to restrict or disable the chat function, though it can be argued that chatting in these worlds is valuable. Roblox monitors these chats as well.

In creation mode, a player sticks strictly to creating and making new worlds of their own. For creating things, Roblox uses popular programming systems which players can practice their computer programming on, which is another reason for the game’s popularity. In this creation mode, players make their own games customizable to the experience that they want. They don’t interact and communicate with other players, and all they do is create their own game.

Some Users Exposed to Inappropriate Content

However, it is not 100% possible to monitor and ensure that all explicit material is kept away from Roblox players. One mother gained fame for telling an experience she had on Facebook. The experience occurred to her 7-year-old daughter on Roblox, even after she had adjusted the security settings to be on maximum security:

“While laying in bed with my daughter this morning, I was reading aloud to her from one of my favorite childhood chapter books. At the same time, she was playing her favorite game Roblox on her iPad while listening to the story. All of a sudden, she stopped me from reading and showed me her screen.

At first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My sweet and innocent daughter’s avatar was being VIOLENTLY GANG-RAPED ON A PLAYGROUND by two males. A female observer approached them and proceeded to jump on her body at the end of the act. Then the 3 characters ran away, leaving my daughter’s avatar laying on her face in the middle of the playground.

Words cannot describe the shock, disgust, and guilt that I am feeling right now, but I’m trying to put those feelings aside so I can get this warning out to others as soon as possible. Thankfully, I was able to take screenshots of what I was witnessing so people will realize just how horrific this experience was… Although I was immediately able to shield my daughter from seeing the entire interaction, I am shuddering to think of what kind of damage this image could have on her psyche, as well as any other child that could potentially be exposed to this.”

This mother’s experience is not a one-time occurrence by any means; in the last few years, there have been countless stories of parents finding everything from strangers proposing sexual acts to their child’s avatars, party rooms in popular inner worlds where players are simulating sexual acts, having their child gang-raped by other stranger’s avatars like the mom’s story above, sex rooms within some of the worlds, etc. Roblox is said to have moderators who monitor the game 24 hours, making it more alarming when sexual material still manages to get inside the game.

Roblox’s Response

When reported to about these sexually explicit occurrences, users say that Roblox does a fairly good job at responding and catching the hackers who manipulate the game in this way. The mom from the above story says that Roblox engineers worked to tighten their platform, hoping that something horrific like had happened to her daughter would never happen again. She tells in a later Facebook post about her interactions with the Roblox CEO’s and their action and response to this action, and that they said: “They have assured me that safety and security is the number one priority of Roblox and that their company will always take responsibility in doing everything possible to prevent and rectify user violations of conduct.”

This stance on safety for players is seen by the high level of monitoring Roblox has. Within the game, there are parental controls which can filter the content played and seen, filter the in-game chatting option, and regulate the friend option for parents to monitor who their child is friending and interacting with in the game. There is also an in-game flagging option for players or their parents to immediately report other players who they think are out of control or are crossing boundaries in gameplay.

They even have specific rules to follow for players under 13, automatically placing them on a restricted chat function which only allows them to chat with other players they have accepted as friends. It can also be noted that while searching for leads on any sexually explicit material on the popular website Reddit, many users applauded Roblox for the changes they have been making for the game to be more child-friendly and ensuring that children are not attacked or messaged by creepy users. Roblox is doing their job to try and ensure that players are kept safe, and many parents who have had negative interactions on the game blame game hackers and not the company of Roblox for exposing their children to explicit material.

Conclusion

Most of the world of Roblox is safe and kid-friendly, and developers are doing their job to monitor and keep it that way. However, as is the case with most things that are over-monitored, hackers will do their part to make the game less kid friendly merely because they can.

This is not a serious problem, but one to be especially aware of if your child enjoys playing Roblox. We at NCOSE encourage you to regularly talk with your children about what they are seeing online, who they are interacting with in their games, and that they know the dangers that are out there on seemingly friendly games.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Roblox is one of the most popular video games for young people today. Here is info for parents on what kind of content their child may be expose to.

# data[].attributes.body
A 13-year-old girl from Topeka, Kansas was rescued February 24, 2022 from a man that she met while playing Roblox. The 33-year-old man convinced the girl to leave her home, and he drove her 900 miles to Georgia. After several days, the girl contacted her mom and authorities arrested the man on counts of kidnapping, rape, and sex trafficking.

https://www.thegamer.com/13-year-old-girl-rescued-from-33-year-old-man-she-met-playing-roblox/

# data[].attributes.body
CONDO GAME (noun): A Roblox term referring to a game that is manipulated to allow players to simulate sexual behavior, bypass chat filters, exchange personal information, and operate using other banned game content like the use of alcohol, drugs, adult toys, etc.

Condo Games are the dark side of Roblox. They are created to break the rules and allow people the freedom to do and say whatever they want. Scary, right? What started as a children's game has become a conduit for online sex trafficking. BBC News investigated the game and reported findings that even with Roblox's security settings in place, it was not hard to find seemingly child-protected game rooms with crude and sexual chat language. This begs the questions whether enough is being done to protect minors from adult content.

The likelihood for commercial exploitation increases with Roblox's in-game currency that can be transferred into real U.S. dollars. Players can sell and exchange items with each other, and make money from the games they create. In an interview by Fast Company, an underage player explained how easy it is to anonymously buy Condo Game codes from programmers selling them. These codes can help people. instantly create new condo-themed servers that can also be programmed to generate Roblox revenue.

It is also alarming that people are able to exchange information in these rooms. This provides ways to move communication onto other platforms where sexual exploitation of the child is easier for the trafficker. Photos and videos can be exchanged more easily on other sites like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. Roblox is only the beginning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Roblox: The children's game with a sex problem - BBC News

# data[].attributes.body
Did you know that 40% of sex trafficking victims are recruited online? The internet is a vast place where so much can happen without anyone noticing. As technology advances, so do the tactics and tools used to groom, coerce, and exploit minors. This media project examines online gaming, specifically the children's game Roblox, and how it contributes to the child sex trafficking issue in the United States.

Every piece of information connects to the bigger issue of online grooming and the prevalence of online child sexual exploitation.