ATLANTA — A Georgia House committee is examining the impact social media platforms are having on children across the state and considering recommendations for new legislation next year.
Attorney General Chris Carr told lawmakers his office regularly handles cases involving crimes against children that began online.
“The majority of our human trafficking cases start through conversations on Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, TikTok, and any other platform where two human beings have the ability to communicate,” Carr said.
Carr said the dangers extend beyond one platform.
“Predators aren’t attacking our children in dark alleys, they are attacking them online,” Carr said.
Earlier this year, Carr announced an investigation into Roblox over reports of alleged child exploitation.
“Earlier this year the Georgia State Patrol recovered two girls who went missing from their home in Florida, after communicating with a 19-year-old stranger on Roblox,” Carr said.
Carr also told lawmakers his office recently secured a conviction against an adult man who initiated contact with a teenage girl on Snapchat.
“We’re also prosecuting the traffickers who were targeting our children online. And just recently, our human trafficking prosecution unit convicted an adult male who initiated contact with a teenage girl on Snapchat,” Carr said.
The committee plans to hold hearings through the summer and eventually develop recommendations for legislation next year.
Georgia State public health professor Dr. Greta Massetti said stronger protections should also come from the companies that operate social media platforms.
“Safety by design, thinking about if building it into the infrastructure of the platform is really what’s needed,” Massetti said.
“Things like default privacy protection for minors, restrictions on adult to minor contact, detection of grooming patterns; we need platforms that are created for safety,” she added.
Massetti said parents also play an important role and should talk to their children about online behavior and activity.
“About half of the children who’d experienced online childhood sexual exploitation or abuse had never told anybody,” Massetti said.
According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, its CyberTipline receives hundreds of thousands of reports of online enticement of children for sexual acts each year. Estimates suggest one in five children receives an unwanted sexual solicitation online before turning 18.
The Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center says children between the ages of 12 and 15 are the most vulnerable online, with more than half of online sexual exploitation victims falling within that age group.
WSB Radio’s Jonathan O’Brien contributed to this story.