Child Sexual Exploitation Online

Resolution Text

WHEREAS:

  • Child sexual exploitation online (including Child Sexual Abuse Material, or CSAM) is an escalating threat to children worldwide significantly exacerbated by the growth in social media platforms, online advertising, cameras on mobile devices, and children increasingly accessing the Internet and mobile applications; 
  • INTERPOL reported about 4,000 unique child sex images circulating worldwide in 1995;i yet in 2018, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 45.8 million child sex abuse images and videos, double the amount from 2017 and a 10,000% increase since 2004;ii
  • The World Health Organization now estimates 200 million children are sexually abused each year,iii and that much of that abuse is online or captured and distributed digitally­ where children are re-victimized with each viewing;
  • 1 in 5 children are now sexually solicited onlinev;i
  • 71% of young people are onlinev, children;vi and one-third of global Internet users are now children;vi

WHEREAS:

  • Many of Alphabet lnc.'s (Alphabet) most profitable businesses have reportedly facilitated child sexual exploitation online, including AdSense, YouTube and Google;
  • Alphabet has faced several recent child sex exploitation controversies, including:
    • A 2019 New York Times investigative piece reported that Google was resistant to removing child sex imagery documented by a recognized CSAM-reporting agency / ii
    • Disney, AT&T, Nestle and others dropped ads because of explicit pedophile commentary under children's videos in YouTubev  iii (an issue YouTube knew about for several years);ix
    • Google's AdMob and Firebase reportedly placed brand ads within apps hosted on Google Play dedicated to finding private pedophile chatrooms, where ad revenues financially supported CSAMx   (unbeknownst to advertisers); 
    • Google was a major funder of an industry coalition to defeat US legislation on sex trafficking onlinex  i, and financially supported groups working aggressively to block legal challenges to Backpage's business model (estimated to account for 73% of suspected child trafficking in the US before Backpage was shut dow_n)x  ii

Proponents note that Alphabet has policies, initiatives, moderators, and investments in technology aimed at reducing child sexual exploitation through some of its businesses, but Proponents are concerned about the sheer volume of child users and potential CSAM risks on Alphabet's platforms (YouTube alone posts 400 hours of content every minutexiii) and believe that Alphabet's current response is inadequate compared to the scope of the problem and likely harm posed to children.

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors issue a report assessing the risk of children being sexually exploited across the Company's platforms and businesses, at reasonable expense and excluding proprietary/confidential information, by February 2021, including whether the Company's existing policies and practices are sufficient to prevent adverse impacts to children (18 and younger) and to the company's reputation or social license.

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i https:// www.icmec.org/commonwealth -inte rnet-governance-forum-a- joint-report-on-online-child -prot ection ­ combatti ng-child -sexual-abuse-mat erial-on-the-int ernet/

ii https:// www.facebook.com/ wearethorn/photos/ a.539537636085793/2387317711307767/?type=3&theater

iii https:// www.undispatch.com/here-is-how-every-count ry-ranks-on-chil d-safety/

iv https: // valueforgood .com/ publications/ AI Making Internet Safer for Children.pdf

v https:// www.unicef.org/publications/ files/SOWC 2017 ENG WEB.pdf

vi https:// www.t and fonline.com/ doi/ full/ 10.1080/23738871.2017.1291698

vii https:// www.nytimes.com/ interactive/2019/11/09/ us/inte rnet -child -sex-abuse.html

viii https:// www.usat oday.com/sto ry/ tech/news/ 2019/02/22/ at-t-disney -epic-games-pull-youtube -ads-child ­ exploit ation -conce rns-ped ophiles/ 2948825002/ ; htt ps:/ /adage.c om/ art icle/ digital/ adve rt isers-worry -yout ube-s­ pedophile-fixes/316799

ix https://www.engadget.com/ 2017 /11/28/youtube-puIls-150000 -child-videos-over-com ment -abuse/

x https://techcrunch.com/ 2018/12/ 27/funding-filth/

xi http://la w.emory.edu/ el j/ el j- online/ volume -68/ essays/history-repeats- faces-behind -sex-tra fficking -familiar.html

xii https://www.consumerwatchd og.org/newsrelease/  repo rt-shows-ho w-google-funded-defense-child -sex­ trafficking-hub

xiii https://www.unicef.org/innovation/media/l0501/file/Memorandum%20on%20Artificial%201ntelligence%20and% 20Child%20Rights.pdf

Lead Filer

Cathy Rowan
Maryknoll Sisters

Co-filer

Judy Byron
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, US Ontario Province
Judy Byron
Patricia Daly
Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, NJ
Priscilla Cohen
Benedictine Sisters, Sacred Heart Monastery of Cullman, Alabama
Sr. Patricia Kirk
Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore - Emmanuel Monastery
Ann Roberts
Dana Investment Advisors
Stephen Zielinski
Dominican Sisters of Springfield Illinois
Laura Krausa
Catholic Health Initiatives
Rose Marie Stallbaumer
Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica
Pat Zerega
Mercy Investment Services
Pat Zerega
Dignity Health
Pat Zerega
Bon Secours Mercy Health