Tech News, Magazine & Review WordPress Theme 2017
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
    eset smart security review

    eset smart security review

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    Norton Internet Security Review

    Norton Internet Security Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

  • Gaming
    Best Gaming Laptops of 2022

    Best Gaming Laptops of 2022

    Most Popular Online Games in 2022

    Most Popular Online Games in 2022

    Best Gaming Consoles You Can Buy in 2022

    Best Gaming Consoles You Can Buy in 2022

    The Analogue Nt Mini NES Console Review: Play Your Favorite NES Games On The Big Screen

    The Analogue Nt Mini NES Console Review: Play Your Favorite NES Games On The Big Screen

  • Gear
    • All
    • Camera
    • Drones
    • Laptop
    • Smartphone
    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

    Trending Tags

    • Best iPhone 7 deals
    • Apple Watch 2
    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • iOS 10
    • iPhone 7
    • Sillicon Valley
  • Computers
    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

  • Security
    Cybersecurity & PR: How The Human Element Can Cause Breaches

    Cybersecurity & PR: How The Human Element Can Cause Breaches

    eset smart security review

    eset smart security review

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    How To Protect Yourself While Using Public WiFi

    How To Protect Yourself While Using Public WiFi

    Norton Internet Security Review

    Norton Internet Security Review

    Google has been asked to take down over a million websites

    Google has been asked to take down over a million websites

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
    eset smart security review

    eset smart security review

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    Norton Internet Security Review

    Norton Internet Security Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

  • Gaming
    Best Gaming Laptops of 2022

    Best Gaming Laptops of 2022

    Most Popular Online Games in 2022

    Most Popular Online Games in 2022

    Best Gaming Consoles You Can Buy in 2022

    Best Gaming Consoles You Can Buy in 2022

    The Analogue Nt Mini NES Console Review: Play Your Favorite NES Games On The Big Screen

    The Analogue Nt Mini NES Console Review: Play Your Favorite NES Games On The Big Screen

  • Gear
    • All
    • Camera
    • Drones
    • Laptop
    • Smartphone
    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

    Trending Tags

    • Best iPhone 7 deals
    • Apple Watch 2
    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • iOS 10
    • iPhone 7
    • Sillicon Valley
  • Computers
    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    MSI GS65 Stealth Thin 15 Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    ASUS Zephyrus M15 GU502LW Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Alienware Area-51m R2 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Acer Predator Triton 500 PT515-51 Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

    Origin PC EON15-X Review

  • Security
    Cybersecurity & PR: How The Human Element Can Cause Breaches

    Cybersecurity & PR: How The Human Element Can Cause Breaches

    eset smart security review

    eset smart security review

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    Avast Premium Security Review: The Best Anti-Malware & Cybercrime Software?

    How To Protect Yourself While Using Public WiFi

    How To Protect Yourself While Using Public WiFi

    Norton Internet Security Review

    Norton Internet Security Review

    Google has been asked to take down over a million websites

    Google has been asked to take down over a million websites

No Result
View All Result
ITRsearch.com
No Result
View All Result

Larry Magid: Conspiracy theories could increase child abuse

October 30, 2020
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
Home News
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Larry Magid: Conspiracy theories could increase child abuse

As you have probably heard, there is a conspiracy theory floating around that elites — including high-ranking political figures and celebrities — are part of a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who are kidnapping, murdering, and drinking the blood of children, and that President Donald Trump is leading a secret war against this evil cabal. Of

Larry Magid 

course, it’s nonsense, just like the 2016 report that Hillary Clinton was running a pedophile ring from a Washington D.C., pizzeria — a theory that led 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch to show up at the restaurant with a loaded gun that went off but thankfully didn’t hurt anyone. Maddison later admitted that he was motivated by these false reports.

These theories have been circulating on social media and getting ever more convoluted. Facebook, Twitter and other companies have taken some actions to reduce their visibility, but they are still present in one form or another.

Although I don’t consider myself an expert on child abuse, I do have some background having served for more than 20 years on the board of directors of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children until this January. As a former board member, I know how important it is to focus on facts when dealing with horrific crimes against children. NCMEC maintains a webpage with key facts about missing children including that more than 29,000 cases were reported in 2019 with 91 percent endangered runaways and less than 1 percent nonfamily abductions. The organization reports that “1 in 6 (of the 26,300 runaways) were likely victims of child sex trafficking.” Yes, this is a very serious problem that we must continue to address, but it’s not around 800,000 as some conspiracy theorists have claimed.

It would be easy to dismiss those who adhere to QAnon theories as part of a lunatic fringe, but this theory is being taken seriously by an unexpected group of people — including many who are well-meaning. It’s also getting positive lip service from several candidates for Congress and from Trump who — at the October 15 NBC News town hall, was asked by host Savanah Guthrie if he could “once and for all state that that is completely not true and disavow QAnon in its entirety.” He responded, “I know nothing about it. I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard. But I know nothing about it.” He went on to say, “What I do hear about it is that they are very strongly against pedophilia, and I agree with that. I mean, I agree with that. And I do agree with that very strongly.”

What Trump may not realize is while QAnon adherents may think they’re fighting pedophilia, they are instead interfering with those who really are fighting it.

These theories put children at risk.

In addition to the risk of people taking violent actions, these conspiracy theories pose a risk to children because they confuse the public about the real risks to children, interfere with the work of the legitimate organizations fighting actual abuse of children, and distort the reality when it comes to the actual risk of child abuse.

While there is no evidence of a cabal of elite child abusers and murderers, there is real evidence that they are hurting legitimate organizations that are working to protect children. For one thing, proponents of these debunked theories have hijacked the hashtag #SaveTheChildren, which has long been associated with an international humanitarian organization, called Save the Children, that’s been helping to protect children around the world for the last 100 years.  In a statement, the group said that “Our name in hashtag form has been experiencing unusually high volumes and causing confusion among our supporters and the general public.” Diluting this hashtag makes it harder for the group to spread its accurate messages.

Another nonprofit, Child Help, runs a 27/7 national hotline on child abuse, In an interview, the group’s chief communications officer Daphne Young told me that their hotline staff has had to deal with calls prompted by these false stories. “Something like QAnon, which promotes this information to large groups of people and can sweep through social media, in a matter of hours, can take up those resources.”

The organizations’ hotline got calls after conspiracy theorists falsely accused the online furniture company Wayfair of shipping children to pedophiles in large furniture boxes. “The Wayfair conspiracy believed that children were being transported in their furniture, and our hotline got a lot of calls from well-meaning people about these Wayfair kids,” Young said.

She said that many of the people who called, including some donors, were well-meaning people who had heard these stories and worried that they might be at least partially true.

A few weeks ago, the Today Show interviewed a very normal looking suburban mom of two who said she spends about 20 minutes a day reading various conspiracy theories online and watching a YouTube program about QAnon theories.  She thinks “Q” is a small group of former military intelligence officers and others who know a great deal about underground military bases and other places where children are exploited. She believes that perpetrators include Democrats but “Republicans too” along with judges and police officers. When asked if there is anything that could dissuade her from these beliefs, she said no, “There’s just too much evidence.” Like others, she thinks that Trump is leading the war against these child killers.

Child welfare groups are fighting back. An open letter (tinyurl.com/QanonLetter) to media, candidates and political parties from a diverse group of 86  mostly anti-human trafficking groups made it clear that “Anybody  —  political committee, candidate, or media outlet  —  who lends any credibility to QAnon conspiracies related to human trafficking actively harms the fight against human trafficking.” The letter, which offers facts about human trafficking added, “You don’t score political points on the backs of human trafficking survivors, and you don’t lie about human trafficking to scare voters. We are in this together. “

As the letter said, “human trafficking is real,” but the way to protect children and others who are being exploited is to focus on the facts and support the work of law enforcement and serious organizations that are dealing with the problem.

I think it’s great for the public to be concerned about sex trafficking and child exploitation but — if you want to help — you can support organizations like NCMEC and Thorn, which use facts and proven methods to eliminate child sexual abuse.

Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist.

Published at Thu, 29 Oct 2020 15:00:59 +0000

Previous Post

iGrad’s Your Money Personality Receives 2020 Excellence in Financial Literacy Education Award from the Institute for Financial Literacy

Next Post

CyberNYC Program: VU Takes Part of the First Cybersecurity…

Related Posts

Lenovo Legion Y740 Review
Computers

Lenovo Legion Y740 Review

May 12, 2022
Quantum Computers: The Future Of Computer Technology
News

Quantum Computers: The Future Of Computer Technology

May 10, 2022
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
News

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

May 10, 2022
Robotic Process Automation (RPA): What It Is and Why Your Business Needs It
News

Robotic Process Automation (RPA): What It Is and Why Your Business Needs It

May 10, 2022
Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Deep Learning: An Overview
News

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Deep Learning: An Overview

May 10, 2022
Top 8 New Technology Trends for 2022
News

Top 8 New Technology Trends for 2022

May 10, 2022
Next Post
CyberNYC Program: VU Takes Part of the First Cybersecurity…

CyberNYC Program: VU Takes Part of the First Cybersecurity...

Recommended.

The Kingdom Of The Netherlands To Showcase Tech Solutions For Global…

The Kingdom Of The Netherlands To Showcase Tech Solutions For Global…

December 15, 2020
His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy of…

His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy of…

December 26, 2019

Trending.

Apple Unveils The New Apple Watch Series 2

Apple Unveils The New Apple Watch Series 2

May 12, 2022
Best Gaming Laptops of 2022

Best Gaming Laptops of 2022

May 12, 2022
Google has been asked to take down over a million websites

Google has been asked to take down over a million websites

May 10, 2022
Facebook Adds Tools To Track How Long Ads Are Viewed, In An Effort To Help Marketers

Facebook Adds Tools To Track How Long Ads Are Viewed, In An Effort To Help Marketers

May 12, 2022
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

May 10, 2022
ITRsearch.com

ITRsearch.com: time for you to read up on the latest IT industry news — and view the best tech recommendations to try. We cover numerous topics from computers, security, internet & more.

Categories

  • Apple
  • Camera
  • Computers
  • Drones
  • Gaming
  • Gear
  • Laptop
  • Microsoft
  • News
  • Review
  • Security
  • Smartphone
  • Social Media
  • Tech
  • Wireless

Tags

Camera Dji Facebook Fujifilm Google GoPro Instagram iPhone Macbook Pro Microsoft MSI Pinterest Shopify

Recent News

Cybersecurity & PR: How The Human Element Can Cause Breaches

Cybersecurity & PR: How The Human Element Can Cause Breaches

May 16, 2022
eset smart security review

eset smart security review

May 12, 2022
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimer
  • FTC Compliance
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 1997-2022 ITrsearch.com, All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Apple
  • Computers
  • Gaming
  • Gear
    • Audio
    • Camera
    • Smartphone
  • Microsoft
  • Security
  • Contact Us

© 1997-2022 ITrsearch.com, All Rights Reserved.