Media
Social media apps that facilitate sextortion blamed for not doing enough to prevent it
Social media companies like Meta and Snap Inc. have been updating their security features throughout 2023 to combat sextortion facilitated through their apps as the number of cases in Canada is reported to be on the rise.
According to the latest data from Cybertip.ca, reports of sextortion in Canada have reached new highs, with 4,952 instances reported between June 2022 and the end of September 2023.
Cybertip.ca, a reporting tipline for online abuse operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in Winnipeg, saw an average increase of 35 per cent from June to September this year compared with the same period last year. (Data from Cybertip.ca goes back only to June 2022.) At the same time, police departments have been reporting even higher increases — including, for example, in Montreal and Calgary.
Sextortion is the practice of acquiring something, usually money, by threatening to expose a victim’s nude or explicit photos or videos online.
“We’ve had a number of conversations with these companies over the years … [but] they are not taking the necessary actions to ensure the safety of the individuals on their platform,” said Cybertip.ca director Stephen Sauer, who’s been with the tipline since its inception 20 years ago.
While the efforts of social media companies have helped remove leaked photos and videos from the internet and provided some support for victims, experts say they do little to actually prevent the abuse from happening in the first place.
Cybertip.ca also collects data indicating on which platform victims met their extortionists. Eighty per cent of the reports mention either Instagram or Snapchat, with complaints split in roughly equal numbers.
Victim speaks out about emotional turmoil
Of the cases Cybertip.ca has received in the last 15 months, the victims are between the ages of 14 and 24, and nearly 90 per cent are male. Catherine Tabak, senior manager with Cybertip.ca, said there’s a reason for that.
“They are looking to gain quick access to money — boys would be sort of their go-to because they’re more impulsive,” she said, referring to offenders.
This means most of the victims in the database are much like “Kyle,” who has asked CBC News not to reveal his real name and city for fear that his extortionist will come after him again or his loved ones will find out what happened to him.
Kyle, now 21, was 19 when he met his extortionist on a messaging app called Kik in 2020. It occurred during a period when the isolation of repeated COVID-19 lockdowns inspired him to download a messaging app to meet new friends. Instead, he met an extortionist posing as a young male love interest.
“They can create a fake email, make a fake age … enter any group chat that they like,” Kyle said. “So imagine how many people underage are using these apps and are being exposed to this.”
He had been chatting and sharing explicit photos and videos with the scammer for months, until he shared one video that revealed his face. The conversation immediately turned.
Kyle said he initially sent the man $500 to keep his video private, but the extortionist was able to track down his Instagram and Facebook accounts to leverage more threats.
“He sent me a screenshot with over hundreds of friends and family, that he was threatening me that if I don’t send him more that he will expose me,” he said. “My family members were all asleep and I was crying in my room, and at that point I felt very hopeless.”
WATCH | Why experts say big tech’s solutions to sextortion aren’t working:
Featured VideoSextortion through messaging apps is on the rise in Canada with young males especially at risk. CBC’s Katie Pedersen investigates what’s happening online and why experts say it’s not a parenting problem, but a technology one.
Aside from the risk of humiliation, Kyle was further motivated to stop his photos and videos from leaking because he is not openly gay and feared his religious parents with whom he still lives would find out his secret.
“I was in this lifestyle that was unacceptable to many people in my life,” he said. “It’s easy to say, ‘Well, these people shouldn’t be in your life,’ but they are, and I love them.”
After days of scrambling to turn over more than $2,000 in total, Kyle found the courage to push back. He used the details of the money transfer he had made to figure out the scammer’s full name and tie his location to the Middle East. That scared off the extortionist, who blocked Kyle.
He reported the incident to police, but the scammer was never caught.
Need to be proactive, not reactive, experts say
With digital encounters transcending borders and legal jurisdictions, successful police intervention is complicated and rare. It’s a reason why experts say reactive measures are insufficient and that more needs to be done to stop bad actors from getting ahold of these images in the first place.
Tabak and her team at Cybertip.ca are often the first point of contact for victims in Canada. She said while strategies like Meta’s Take It Down tool will help victims whose photos have been shared, for others, help comes too late.
“We do have kids that will come in and say, … ‘I’m not concerned,’ but in the vast majority of cases, kids just completely spiral,” she said.
Across North America, CBC News found more than a dozen media reports of teens who died by suicide in incidents linked to sextortion in the past two years. Daniel Lints, a 17-year-old from Manitoba died last year just three hours after he was threatened by his scammer.
“We hear a lot about how parents need to be aware of their kids’ online activities,” said Derek Lints, Daniel’s father. “It is not the parents’ fault either. We had accounts on every platform our son did and kept an eye on activity.”
Meta and Snap have started to implement some proactive measures. Meta says it sends alerts to users when they are contacted by an unknown account that they deem suspicious, such as an adult who recently followed many minors or was blocked by someone under 18. Snap Inc., which owns Snapchat, said it is starting to issue similar warnings.
Both companies say they have made it harder for adults to discover teen accounts or interact with them if they don’t have mutual friends, while Kik’s parent company, MediaLab, said it’s consulting with various organizations to enhance its protective measures.
But Tabak said more needs to be done to verify the identity and age of users.
“You should never have a platform that allows children to communicate with adults in any capacity, especially in an unsupervised environment,” she said.
Tabak said she will often reach out to a platform to flag a sextortion account, and it will be pulled down, only for another account with a similar name to pop up a few days later.
“These platforms … make so much money and they have all this technology to be able to address other problems. Why is child safety not a priority on their list?”
‘Responsible AI’ as part of the solution
Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems and management at the University of Warwick’s business school in England, is leading a team that’s working on a type of “responsible AI” to stop sextortion before it starts.
“It is actually possible to identify when the conversation, which is an erotic conversation, is actually going towards blackmailing,” she said. “The whole fine line is not to intrude [on] people’s privacy but to still actually raise an alert, raise a flag.”
Singh is working on a program that would do just that, but she said it’s not likely to be implemented by social media companies without government intervention.
“These companies are profit-making companies, right?” she said. “There has to be a duty of care on these platforms, which is uniformly implemented across [platforms].”
The federal government has several ministers working together on a regulatory framework to make the internet safer. Minister of Justice Arif Virani told CBC News in a statement that sextortion is on their radar.
“I will continue to work with my colleagues and the ministers of Canadian heritage and public safety to introduce legislation as soon as possible to combat the sexual exploitation of children and other online dangers — but we must take the time to do this properly. Too much is at stake,” Virani’s statement said.
What to do if you’re a victim of sextortion
Experts say the best defence against sextortion is to immediately cease communication. A study headed by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection last year analyzed comments posted in an online public forum on Reddit titled “r/sextortion.”
The study found that complying with a sextortionist’s demands led to more demands in 93 per cent of the cases. A poll of r/sextortion members showed that ignoring the scammer led to photos never being distributed 67 per cent of the time, while paying them led to their photos being deleted only 11 per cent of the time.
Kyle said as far as he knows, his photos have never been sent to his friends and loved ones, but he’s still anxious knowing that someone in the world has them.
Therapy is helping him deal with the emotional turmoil, he said, while connecting with peers he’s met on r/sextortion has helped him find a way forward.
“I kept creating these reflection posts every day, updating the victims of how I’m feeling, my mental health … the objectives I’ve done throughout the day,” he said, noting that he’s ready to move on.
Kyle said he hopes sharing his story encourages other victims to do the same.
Former President Donald Trump is on the brink of a significant financial decision that could have far-reaching implications for both his personal wealth and the future of his fledgling social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). As the lockup period on his shares in TMTG, which owns Truth Social, nears its end, Trump could soon be free to sell his substantial stake in the company. However, the potential payday, which makes up a large portion of his net worth, comes with considerable risks for Trump and his supporters.
Trump’s stake in TMTG comprises nearly 59% of the company, amounting to 114,750,000 shares. As of now, this holding is valued at approximately $2.6 billion. These shares are currently under a lockup agreement, a common feature of initial public offerings (IPOs), designed to prevent company insiders from immediately selling their shares and potentially destabilizing the stock. The lockup, which began after TMTG’s merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is set to expire on September 25, though it could end earlier if certain conditions are met.
Should Trump decide to sell his shares after the lockup expires, the market could respond in unpredictable ways. The sale of a substantial number of shares by a major stakeholder like Trump could flood the market, potentially driving down the stock price. Daniel Bradley, a finance professor at the University of South Florida, suggests that the market might react negatively to such a large sale, particularly if there aren’t enough buyers to absorb the supply. This could lead to a sharp decline in the stock’s value, impacting both Trump’s personal wealth and the company’s market standing.
Moreover, Trump’s involvement in Truth Social has been a key driver of investor interest. The platform, marketed as a free speech alternative to mainstream social media, has attracted a loyal user base largely due to Trump’s presence. If Trump were to sell his stake, it might signal a lack of confidence in the company, potentially shaking investor confidence and further depressing the stock price.
Trump’s decision is also influenced by his ongoing legal battles, which have already cost him over $100 million in legal fees. Selling his shares could provide a significant financial boost, helping him cover these mounting expenses. However, this move could also have political ramifications, especially as he continues his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race.
Trump Media’s success is closely tied to Trump’s political fortunes. The company’s stock has shown volatility in response to developments in the presidential race, with Trump’s chances of winning having a direct impact on the stock’s value. If Trump sells his stake, it could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his own political future, potentially undermining both his campaign and the company’s prospects.
Truth Social, the flagship product of TMTG, has faced challenges in generating traffic and advertising revenue, especially compared to established social media giants like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Despite this, the company’s valuation has remained high, fueled by investor speculation on Trump’s political future. If Trump remains in the race and manages to secure the presidency, the value of his shares could increase. Conversely, any missteps on the campaign trail could have the opposite effect, further destabilizing the stock.
As the lockup period comes to an end, Trump faces a critical decision that could shape the future of both his personal finances and Truth Social. Whether he chooses to hold onto his shares or cash out, the outcome will likely have significant consequences for the company, its investors, and Trump’s political aspirations.
Cochise County, AZ — Law enforcement officials in Arizona have apprehended Ronald Lee Syvrud, a 66-year-old resident of Cochise County, after a manhunt was launched following alleged death threats he made against former President Donald Trump. The threats reportedly surfaced in social media posts over the past two weeks, as Trump visited the US-Mexico border in Cochise County on Thursday.
Syvrud, who hails from Benson, Arizona, located about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, was captured by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed his arrest, stating, “This subject has been taken into custody without incident.”
In addition to the alleged threats against Trump, Syvrud is wanted for multiple offences, including failure to register as a sex offender. He also faces several warrants in both Wisconsin and Arizona, including charges for driving under the influence and a felony hit-and-run.
The timing of the arrest coincided with Trump’s visit to Cochise County, where he toured the US-Mexico border. During his visit, Trump addressed the ongoing border issues and criticized his political rival, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, for what he described as lax immigration policies. When asked by reporters about the ongoing manhunt for Syvrud, Trump responded, “No, I have not heard that, but I am not that surprised and the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys.”
This incident marks the latest in a series of threats against political figures during the current election cycle. Just earlier this month, a 66-year-old Virginia man was arrested on suspicion of making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris and other public officials.
Media
Trump Media & Technology Group Faces Declining Stock Amid Financial Struggles and Increased Competition
Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock has taken a significant hit, dropping more than 11% this week following a disappointing earnings report and the return of former U.S. President Donald Trump to the rival social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. This decline is part of a broader downward trend for the parent company of Truth Social, with the stock plummeting nearly 43% since mid-July. Despite the sharp decline, some investors remain unfazed, expressing continued optimism for the company’s financial future or standing by their investment as a show of political support for Trump.
One such investor, Todd Schlanger, an interior designer from West Palm Beach, explained his commitment to the stock, stating, “I’m a Republican, so I supported him. When I found out about the stock, I got involved because I support the company and believe in free speech.” Schlanger, who owns around 1,000 shares, is a regular user of Truth Social and is excited about the company’s future, particularly its plans to expand its streaming services. He believes Truth Social has the potential to be as strong as Facebook or X, despite the stock’s recent struggles.
However, Truth Social’s stock performance is deeply tied to Trump’s political influence and the company’s ability to generate sustainable revenue, which has proven challenging. An earnings report released last Friday showed the company lost over $16 million in the three-month period ending in June. Revenue dropped by 30%, down to approximately $836,000 compared to $1.2 million during the same period last year.
In response to the earnings report, Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes emphasized the company’s strong cash position, highlighting $344 million in cash reserves and no debt. He also reiterated the company’s commitment to free speech, stating, “From the beginning, it was our intention to make Truth Social an impenetrable beachhead of free speech, and by taking extraordinary steps to minimize our reliance on Big Tech, that is exactly what we are doing.”
Despite these assurances, investors reacted negatively to the quarterly report, leading to a steep drop in stock price. The situation was further complicated by Trump’s return to X, where he posted for the first time in a year. Trump’s exclusivity agreement with Trump Media & Technology Group mandates that he posts personal content first on Truth Social. However, he is allowed to make politically related posts on other social media platforms, which he did earlier this week, potentially drawing users away from Truth Social.
For investors like Teri Lynn Roberson, who purchased shares near the company’s peak after it went public in March, the decline in stock value has been disheartening. However, Roberson remains unbothered by the poor performance, saying her investment was more about supporting Trump than making money. “I’m way at a loss, but I am OK with that. I am just watching it for fun,” Roberson said, adding that she sees Trump’s return to X as a positive move that could expand his reach beyond Truth Social’s “echo chamber.”
The stock’s performance holds significant financial implications for Trump himself, as he owns a 65% stake in Trump Media & Technology Group. According to Fortune, this stake represents a substantial portion of his net worth, which could be vulnerable if the company continues to struggle financially.
Analysts have described Truth Social as a “meme stock,” similar to companies like GameStop and AMC that saw their stock prices driven by ideological investments rather than business fundamentals. Tyler Richey, an analyst at Sevens Report Research, noted that the stock has ebbed and flowed based on sentiment toward Trump. He pointed out that the recent decline coincided with the rise of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, which may have dampened perceptions of Trump’s 2024 election prospects.
Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida, offered a grim long-term outlook for Truth Social, suggesting that the stock would likely remain volatile, but with an overall downward trend. “What’s lacking for the true believer in the company story is, ‘OK, where is the business strategy that will be generating revenue?'” Ritter said, highlighting the company’s struggle to produce a sustainable business model.
Still, for some investors, like Michael Rogers, a masonry company owner in North Carolina, their support for Trump Media & Technology Group is unwavering. Rogers, who owns over 10,000 shares, said he invested in the company both as a show of support for Trump and because of his belief in the company’s financial future. Despite concerns about the company’s revenue challenges, Rogers expressed confidence in the business, stating, “I’m in it for the long haul.”
Not all investors are as confident. Mitchell Standley, who made a significant return on his investment earlier this year by capitalizing on the hype surrounding Trump Media’s planned merger with Digital World Acquisition Corporation, has since moved on. “It was basically just a pump and dump,” Standley told ABC News. “I knew that once they merged, all of his supporters were going to dump a bunch of money into it and buy it up.” Now, Standley is staying away from the company, citing the lack of business fundamentals as the reason for his exit.
Truth Social’s future remains uncertain as it continues to struggle with financial losses and faces stiff competition from established social media platforms. While its user base and investor sentiment are bolstered by Trump’s political following, the company’s long-term viability will depend on its ability to create a sustainable revenue stream and maintain relevance in a crowded digital landscape.
As the company seeks to stabilize, the question remains whether its appeal to Trump’s supporters can translate into financial success or whether it will remain a volatile stock driven more by ideology than business fundamentals.
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