A new report by Equality Now and the Sexual Violence Prevention Association documents how U.S. law enforcement, tech platforms and policymakers routinely fail survivors of online sexual exploitation and abuse.
If you have experienced online sexual exploitation and abuse and need help, contact the Cyber Civil Liberties Initiative Safety Center.
Samantha, a college student (last name withheld), was raped by a police officer. She later found out the assault had been recorded and shared online. “It’s one thing that the attack happened, but then, when it was shared to be rewatched over and over again …”
When she could no longer stay silent and tried to confront what happened, the perpetrator dismissed her experience and claimed the assault was “role-playing.” Samantha reported the incident to the police in the next town to avoid her perpetrator’s precinct, only to be told they didn’t have jurisdiction. She hired a civil attorney to obtain a protective order and reported it through Title IX at her university, but it didn’t make her feel any better. The perpetrator lost his job, which offered a small measure of validation, but no one could help her take down the video that was widely circulating on the internet, leaving her with “no control over how far it was reaching … or who had access to it.”
When Samantha asked multiple officers what could be done to take down the video, she was met with no clear resources and no next steps. The officers’ responses were blunt: “They were basically like, ‘Well, what do you expect us to do about it? It’s the internet, we don’t have control over that….’ There were no resources given and it left me feeling even more hopeless, because they’re like, ‘Once it’s on the internet, it’s out there.’”
Samantha is one of 13 survivors who tell their heart-wrenching stories in a new research report by Equality Now and the Sexual Violence Prevention Association, detailing the increasing prevalence and harms of online sexual exploitation and abuse (OSEA) in the United States.
According to the report’s key findings, OSEA includes online grooming, live streaming of sexual abuse, child sexual abuse material, online sexual coercion and extortion, online sex trafficking and image-based sexual abuse. Drawing from survivor insights and expert legal analysis, the report shows how state and federal laws fail to protect survivors and how major U.S.-based tech companies are often unresponsive to requests to take down harmful content or otherwise assist in holding perpetrators accountable.
Equality Now’s Anastasia Law explains:
“U.S. laws have failed to keep pace with the realities of tech-facilitated sexual abuse, and survivors are paying the price. With no U.S. federal statute requiring tech companies to ensure user safety or transparent reporting systems, survivors must navigate outdated laws, inconsistent responses and repeated obstacles when trying to take down abusive material or hold perpetrators accountable.”
Every participant interviewed for the report encountered barriers to obtaining justice, including: poor reporting experiences, failures of law enforcement, the lack of clear legal options, insufficient responses by technology companies and platforms, as well as a general lack of legislation to properly address the harms done.
Ten out of 13 survivors experienced the nonconsensual sharing of explicit images, and four also reported cyberstalking, threats and breaches of private information.
Most participants experienced some form of financial loss as a result of their situation. Of the 10 who were adults at the time of the abuse, three lost their jobs outright, and four lost career advancement opportunities. Many spent money on lawyers and other legal services, relocated, were extorted for money or paid third parties to remove nonconsensual materials from platforms.
Every participant who reported their abuse described the experience as overwhelmingly negative; none of the survivors succeeded in the complete removal of the materials or in holding their perpetrators meaningfully accountable.
Samantha’s story reflects that without clear pathways to accountability, reporting can only go so far, and survivors are still treated “as if it’s somehow our fault, and we are to blame because we’ve participated in it in some way, regardless of whether we consented to it or not.” She also warns that the current focus on deepfakes and AI distracts from the core issue of consent, and argues that legislators need to “shift toward consent as the focus, not whether it’s deepfakes or not.”
Her experience represents a broader pattern reflected within the Equality Now report: Survivors who report OSEA are often met with no protocol, a lack of survivor-centered practice and no access to accountability, due to policy gaps.
“Lawmakers must act to strengthen state and federal laws, with clear policies governing consent and the online distribution of sexual material in an increasingly borderless digital world,” said Law. “U.S.-based tech companies need to be held fully accountable for the non-consensual publication and spread of sexually explicit content on their platforms.”
Katie Knick from the Sexual Violence Prevention Association emphasized the report’s key recommendations:
“Our research underscores the need for survivor-centered systems, including free legal representation, trauma-informed mental health care, specialized professional training and clear pathways for reporting and removal of abusive material. Sustainable prevention requires accountability and policies informed by the voices and leadership of survivors with lived experience.”
Equality Now’s report pushes beyond legal and technological remedies, calling for broader cultural reform.
“Online sexual exploitation and abuse is a form of systemic sexual violence rooted in misogyny, racism and other intersecting oppressions,” said Knick. “While technology shapes how the harm occurs, prevention depends on dismantling rape culture and reducing power imbalances through education, policy reform and institutional accountability.”
For Samantha, the fastest lever for change is the bystander: “If you’re a bystander and you are receiving something that is questionable as to whether it was consensually shared … if you facilitate that, you’re just as guilty.”
