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Did Twitter refuse to remove child porn? Truth behind TwitterIsOverParty trend as Florida teen sues platform

Twitter faces a lawsuit after it reportedly failed to remove child pornography on its platform, even after multiple reports were filed to remove the content

Twitter’s nudity policy is once again under the media radar as it reportedly refused to take down pornographic images and videos of a teenage sex trafficking victim. As per a lawsuit against Twitter, the reason behind Twitter’s refusal to remove the content is because it reportedly did not violate its policies.

On January 20, a federal lawsuit by the victim and his mother was reportedly filed in the Northern District of California against Twitter. The suit alleges Twitter made money off the clips, which showed a 13-year-old engage in sexual acts. The teenager was reportedly a victim when a sex trafficker, posing as a 16-year-old female classmate, started chatting with him on Snapchat.

Lawsuit against Twitter

The teenager, who is now 17 and lives in Florida, is only identified as John Doe. As per the report by New York Post, the teenager and the sex trafficker allegedly exchanged nude photos before the latter started blackmailing the boy that if he did not provide more sexual content, then the images and videos would be shared with his parents, coach, pastor and others closely related to him.

The teenager initially sent videos and images, but the situation became much severe after he was asked to include another child in his videos, which he reportedly did. The teenager blocked the sex trafficker at some point, and the duo had no contact with each other until 2019 when his videos allegedly surfaced on Twitter from two different accounts. The sexual content was reported thrice in December 2019. Still, Twitter failed to remove it from its social media platform until a federal law enforcement officer got involved with the case. After several follow-ups, Twitter replied to John Doe that they wouldn’t’ be taking down the video, which by then had already been viewed by over 167,000 accounts. 

“If you believe there’s a potential copyright infringement, please start a new report. If the content is hosted on a third-party website, you’ll need to contact that website’s support team to report it. Your safety is the most important thing, and if you believe you are in danger, we encourage you to contact your local authorities,” Twitter wrote in its response feed.

The reply from Twitter prompted the teenager to say that in the videos they are both minors who got involved in performing a sexual act. “What do you mean you don’t see a problem? We both are minors right now and were minors at the time these videos were taken. We both were 13 years of age,” replied John Doe. The videos were removed from Twitter on January 30, after an agent from the Department of Homeland Security got involved in the case.

#TwitterIsOverParty

Right after the news of the lawsuit against Twitter surfaced online, many social media users shared their views on the same. Many Twitter users openly called to boycott the platform for not limiting its sexual content. Simultaneously, there were several who tweeted that the news is spread by former president Donald Trump's supporters after his account got permanently banned from the social media platform.

One user writes, "For everyone saying it's from a "right ring" news source, thus labeling it as fake, it's actually not. @nypost was one of multiple who carried the story from the actual @ncose #TwitterIsOver #TwitterIsOverParty." One more said, "Not ONLY did Twitter empower PEDOS, they ALLOWED sex traffickers to try and abduct a 13 year. LUCKILY it didn't happen, but DAMN. This kid was violated And could have been kidnapped and killed. And Twitter PROTECTS those weirdos hunting Child Porn. #TwitterIsOverParty."

While another writes, "They are trying to cancel Twitter...on Twitter...." Another said, "Twitter is a mistake for allowing this, and not doing anything about it #TwitterIsOverParty." One more said, "you guys really fucked up this time #TwitterIsOverParty."

Twitter's Nudity Policy

Like all the social media handles, Twitter has its own non-consensual nudity policy that limits users from sharing or posting intimate photos or videos of someone produced or distributed without their consent. The non-consensual media content poses safety and security risk for people affected.

The non-consensual media content includes hidden camera content featuring partial nudity or sexual acts, images or videos that digital manipulate an individual’s face onto another person’s nude body, or offering a financial reward in exchange for intimate photos. However, unlike Facebook or Apple app store, which strongly resist porn content on their platforms, Twitter has adult content on it. As per Twitter’s nudity policy, pornography and other forms of consensually produced adult content are allowed on the platform. One of the significant reasons behind having adult content on Twitter is that a substantial number of Twitter users belong to sex-positive communities.

These remarks were made by the Internet and individual organizations, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.