Censorship strikes again: Facebook won’t allow distillery to run a paid ad to promote “back the blue” event

Censorship strikes again: Facebook won’t allow distillery to
run a paid ad to promote “back the blue” event 1

BRADENTON, FL- According to a local distillery, Facebook as repeatedly rejected the distillery’s multiple attempts to promote its “Back the Blue” fundraising event through paid advertising.

KTVT reported that the Loaded Cannon Distillery said it will soon be unveiling a five-bottle series honoring first responders, including nurses, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and law enforcement officers. 

The colors of each bottle represent a different group of first responders. Part of each sale will be donated back to each first responder group.

To kick off the new bottle series, the distillery has planned a “Back the Blue New Spirits Launch” on May 29th will all proceeds going to the non-profit S.O.L.E., which stands for Supports of Law Enforcement.

Michelle Russell, marketing and creative director for the distillery, said in a statement:

“It helps raise money for people in law enforcement that need this little extra help, this little push to help them get through hard times.”

Unsurprisingly, with big tech companies censoring anything that has to do with supporting law enforcement, the distillery is having an issue with promoting the event on Facebook through paid advertisement.  Russell said:

“First on April 20th, rejected; 28th, rejected; 5th rejected.”

Russell said she is able to post the event on the Loaded Cannon Distillery Facebook page, but to reach a larger audience, she has tried to place multiple $200 adds. However, each ad has been rejected by the big tech company. Among the reasons give during the rejections, Facebook said:

“Your ad may have been rejected if it mentions politicians or sensitive social issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.”

Russell explained:

“I have tried to advertise it in multiple different versions and multiple different ways. They have rejected me every single time.”

Russell said there is only one goal for “Back the Blue” and it is not political. She added:

“I’m just trying to show our support for how much they’re done for us that they deserve some recognition.”

The distillery plans to forge ahead with their fundraising event, with or without the boost of advertising on social media. Russell said:

“I’m not really sure how to move forward, other than to do it old school and print flyers and go door to door and let everybody know we are here in this community and we support every first responder.”

Steven Milligan founded Loaded Cannon Distillery in Lakewood Ranch in 2019. He said that 2020 proved to be a tough year for everyone, especially for first responders. When discussing the new line of spirits honoring frontline heroes, he said:

“It is a wonderful cause for all of the great duty they do and all the work they do for our neighborhood. We have been through some trying times here not only Loaded Cannon, but the Bradenton area and all over the United States and the world. It is just a way to give back, it is just important.”

In discussing why Facebook is blocking their ads, Milligan said:

“It was real surprising. We were trying to get the word out there so everyone would participate and have a good time and so when you get a block like that it’s like, why us? What did we do wrong?”

He said he does not see anything wrong with trying to do something good. He explained:

“It is nothing political. It is just thanking those people who do services for us every day, day in and day out.”

“Back the Blue” and the new spirits launch will take place on Saturday, May 29th, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Loaded Cannon Distillery located at 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd, Suite 110, Bradenton, Florida.

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Report: Facebook linked to more than 20 million reports of child exploitation

March 1st, 2021

UNITED STATES- The Daily Beast recently reported that according to new data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipLine, a shocking amount of online child exploitation reports were linked to Facebook.

The study identified over 20.3 million reported incidents related to child pornography or trafficking, classified as “child sexual abuse material” on the social media platform. To get a better picture of this, below is where other websites stand in comparison:

“Google cited 546,704 incidents, Twitter had 65,062, Snapchat reported 144,095, and TikTok found 22, 692. Facebook accounted for nearly 95 percent of the 21.7 million reports across all platforms.”

Additionally, MindGeek, the Canada-based parent company of multiple porn websites, including Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, reported far less incidents than Facebook. MindGeek reported a total of 13,299 incidents. 

2020 was the first year MindGeek participated in the study, following a year-long campaign called #Trafficinghub, which aimed to shut down Pornhub for its alleged role in promoting underage human trafficking by hosting content featuring minors.

Statistics on child exploitation can be misleading. For example, the most commonly-cited data point, which was mentioned in a 2010 congressional testimony by the then-president of NCMEC, was based on decades-old data.

That data relied on two studies, both collected during the 1990s, which included runaways, abandoned kids, and unhoused children. One of the studies, a Washington Post fact-check found, was compiled in a way that allowed some incidents to be counted two or three times.

The CyberTipLine operates a little differently where the centralized system collects reports from the public and “electronic service providers,” a category which includes social media platforms, but also companies like eBay, Dropbox, and Microsoft.

The latter group makes up the bulk of their data. For example, back in 2020, of more than 21.7 million reports reviewed by the CyberTipLine, 21.4 million of them came from electronic service providers.

However, there are still points of confusion in the reported data. Both Pornhub and Facebook have alleged that the data they provided may include duplicates. Pornhub alleges that the 13,229:

“Includes several thousand duplicates, with most reports submitted multiple times in an abundance of caution.”

They claim that the number of single or unique incidents is really 4,171. Facebook released a similar statement alleging that 90 percent of the failed incidents were “the same as or visually similar to previously reported content.”

If this statement is correct, Facebook’s total number of unique reports would still be 2,030,722, the largest number in the data pool by far. Facebook published a press release titled “Preventing Child Exploitation on Our Apps” and announced new measures to monitor child exploitation.

Reportedly, the tools include new informational pop-up for related search terms, a policy for removing profiles associated with child-related flagged content, and an “involved a child” option for reporting “Nudity and Sexual Activity” on the platform. In the release, Facebook said:

“Using our apps to harm children is abhorrent and unacceptable. Our industry-leading efforts to combat child exploitation focus on preventing abuse, detecting and reporting content that violates our policies, and working with experts and authorities to keep children safe.”

In a statement to the Daily Beast, a MindGeek spokesperson wrote:

“Eliminating illegal content and ridding the internet of child sexual abuse material is one of the most crucial issues facing online platforms today and it requires the unwavering commitment and collective action of all parties.”

The statement added:

“MindGeek voluntarily registered with NCMEC to automatically report every instance of CSAM we are aware of so that this information can be disseminated to and investigated by authorities across the globe.”

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Mastercard and Visa to investigate Pornhub over allegations of child pornography, rape videos

December 7th, 2020

On Sunday, December 6th, credit card giants Visa and Mastercard announced that they are planning to investigate their business relationship with the bank of Pornhub’s parent MindGeek, a Canadian company that focuses primarily on pornography.

New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, write an article where he described the videos on Pornhub as recordings of assaults on unconscious women and girls. He wrote that the website carries rape scenes, revenge pornography, and other examples of explicit video taken without consent of the participants.

He wrote:

“The issue is not pornography, but rape. Let’s agree that promoting assaults on children or anyone without consent is unconscionable.”

Pornhub has denied all allegations. In a statement emailed to Reuters, the company said:

“Any assertion that we all CSAM (child sexual abuse material) is irresponsible and flagrantly untrue.”

Mastercard said that it would be investigation the allegations with Pornhub’s parent MindGeek’s bank. Mastercard said:

“If the claims are substantiated, we will take immediate action.”

Breitbart News reported that similarly, Visa is also planning to investigate directly with MindGeek. Visa said:

“It is actively engaging with the relevant financial institutions to investigate.”

The company added:

“If the site is identified as not complying with applicable laws or the financial institutions’ acceptable use policies and underwriting standards, they will no longer be able to accept Visa payments.”

Reportedly, billionaire investor Bill Ackman called upon Mastercard and Visa to temporarily stop payments to the porn site until the allegations are investigated. In his article, Kristof wrote:

“Its site is infested with rape videos. It monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags. A search for “girls under18 (no space) or “14yo” leads in each case to more than 100,000 videos. Most aren’t of children being assaulted, but too many are.”

He added:

“A great majority of the 6.8 million new videos posted on the site each year probably involve consenting adults, but many depict child abuse and nonconsensual violence. Because it’s impossible to be sure whether a youth in a video is 14 or 18, neither Pornhub nor anyone else has a clear idea of how much content is illegal.”

Ackman suggested that it should be made illegal for porn sites to post videos before they are reviewed by a monitor and until the ages and consent for participants have been validated.

In response, Pornhub claimed that it has a vast team of human moderators who manually review “every single upload.” Pornhub also claimed that they have automated detection technologies. It did not say how many people were part of its review team.

https://twitter.com/SpaGosMobileSpa/status/1335996530029838336

In the United States, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced that he will introduce legislation that would give sex trafficking victims a federal right to sue sites such as Pornhub. Hawley praised Kristof for his “tremendous” investigative reporting. He tweeted:

“Tremendous reporting by @NickKristof on the exploitation that occurs on sites like Pornhub. It’s time for it to end. I will introduce legislation to create a federal right to sue for every person coerced or trafficked or exploited by sites like Pornhub.”

Pornhub continued to deny any allegations. The company said:

“We have zero tolerance for CSAM. Pornhub is unequivocally committed to combating CSAM and has instituted an industry-leading trust and safety policy to identify and eradicate illegal material from our community.”

Anti-trafficking activist Laila Mickelwait has called for Pornhub to be closed down because the platform does not do enough to oversee its content. Mickelwait founded her Trafficking hub campaign, which states:

“Pornhub, the world’s largest and most popular porn site, has been repeatedly caught enabling, hosting, and profiting from videos of child rape, sex trafficking, and other forms of non-consensual content exploiting women and minors. We’re calling for Pornhub to be shut down and its executives held accountable for these crimes.”

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) urged the Justice Department to investigate Pornhub back in March over allegations that the site exploits victims of sex trafficking, including children. Sasse also proposed an investigation into MindGeek. 

MindGeek reportedly denied the accusations, stating:

“Pornhub has a steadfast commitment to eradicating and fighting non-consensual content and under-age material. Any suggestions otherwise is categorically and factually inaccurate.”

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Has America lost its soul? Super Bowl Halftime Sex Show ignored human trafficking in the name of ratings.

February 2nd, 2020

MIAMI, FL- While law enforcement agencies and businesses in Miami were preparing for increases in human trafficking during the Super Bowl, the halftime sex show was riling up pervs and pedos all over the country with in your face crotch shots, tongue flicking, pole dancing, twerking, grinding, gyrating and displaying little girls in cages.

Sunday’s Pepsi Super Bowl LIV halftime show in Miami Gardens, Florida included identity politics, anti-border patrol and human trafficking symbolism.

The show was celebrated as an homage to Latino culture. It was described as empowering to watch two women of color over 40 performing in a sexually provocative manner.

Shakira, who is Columbian, and Jennifer Lopez, a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent lit up social media and were described as everything from age-defying superstar athletes to disgusting and vulgar.

Being very pragmatic, I was wondering how the costume covering J.Lo’s crotch was staying on, was it glued? I was thinking that the cameraman was wondering the same thing due to the numerous closeup crotch shots, but he was probably just hoping to film a wardrobe malfunction.

While the mainstream media was busy debating whether Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s performance empowered or objectified women, they completely ignored the more significant issue; the exploitation of including prepubescent girls in their sex show.  

One part of the sexually charged performance featured J.Lo’s 11-year-old daughter Emme Maribel Muñiz and other children in cages singing. Some viewers claimed the lighting behind Lopez and Emme appeared to reflect a wire fence.

The display of Latino children in cages at the Superbowl halftime show was highly praised as a political statement on immigration policies. This is a common theme in anti-border patrol propaganda.

Children in cages was part of the mass hysteria produced by fake news reports regarding the Trump administration’s enforcement of the zero tolerance immigration policy at the U.S.- Mexico border.

The fake news mischaracterized the family separation policy and accused CBP and ICE officers of caging, beating, starving, neglecting, physically and sexually abusing children being held in immigrant detention centers.

The Pepsi Super Bowl LIV halftime show may have tried to send a message about the sexual empowerment of women and a statement about border enforcement, but human traffickers and pedophiles just see sex.

Newsflash J.Lo, by including your 11-year-old daughter in your halftime sex show she just became a pedophile poster child.

That’s what happens when your mix sex with little girls. She just went on the pedo radar and videos of the halftime show will be traded like any other pornography.

That’s the cold hard reality of mixing pole dancing, twerking and crotch shots in the same performance with innocent young girls. Welcome to the real world.

As far as the ridiculous imagery of displaying young girls in cages implying that immigration officers harm them, Customs and Border Patrol and other immigration enforcement officers are the ones trying to stop the human traffickers and protect women and children. They are protecting them from being forced to dance naked on strip poles.

Victims of sex traffickers are not dancing on strip poles to show off their buffed middle-aged bodies but because they were kidnapped, repeatedly raped everyday of their lives and sold into sexual slavery. By the time they are 50 they are either dead or wish they were. Not so empowering.

Shakira’s tongue flicking became the most popular meme of the Super Bowl halftime show. It was quickly explained away in the context of her paternal Lebanese cultural identity, as what is called a zaghrouta, an Arabic tradition used to express joy, excitement and celebration.

Of course, since most of the millions of viewers are not familiar with that tradition it just appeared as a sexual fetish. Her belly dancing is also praised as being part of her Lebanese cultural heritage, even though her Super Bowl belly dance includes a rope where she simulates being tied up as sexually alluring.

Human traffickers, rapists and pedos also use ropes to tie up women and children. I’m not seeing female empowerment here, more like the glorification of bondage, subjugation and rape.

The Pepsi Super Bowl LIV halftime show is just another example of feminist mixed signals trying to reconcile the #metoo and sexual liberation movements.

Where are all the feminists that used to hold up signs about women being beaten on Super Bowl Sunday? Now feminists are more concerned about complimenting women performers on how good they look for their age. This is not female empowerment this is superficial and dangerous.

At last year’s Super Bowl, a human trafficking operation conducted during the 11 days leading up to the game resulted in 169 arrests, including 26 traffickers and 34 people attempting to engage in sex acts with minors.

Nine juveniles were recovered with the youngest being 14-years-old. There were also nine adult victims.

Similar to the #metoo and sexual liberation confusion, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s Super Bowl Halftime show was a combination of mixed signs, signals and symbols. A tribute to women that also functions as pornography for human traffickers, rapists and pedophiles.

Editor note: Law Enforcement Today is proud to support DeliverFund as our charity of choice in the battle against human trafficking.

DeliverFund Takes Over Backpages Old Offices

In this picture,  DeliverFund co-founder and Senior VP Jeremy Mahugh, Director of Operations Michael Fullilove, and Founder and Executive Director Nic McKinley were seen surveying their new location in Dallas, which opened up last year.

For years, Backpage was a haven for sex traffickers selling underage girls. That was until the federal government raided its offices and indicted several of its executives on charges of laundering money and running an online brothel.   

Backpage.com was found guilty of not just hosting ads for trafficked women, but actually coaching traffickers on how to creatively re-word the ads in order to keep law enforcement from picking up their trail.

Rumor has it DeliverFund played a pivotal role in taking down the company.  DeliverFund has not commented on that possibility.

Since then, in what might be the most bad-ass statement we’ve seen in years, DeliverFund has taken over the 3,000 square foot space to house their International Human Trafficking Analysis Center–a central point of information coordination and dissemination for law enforcement, select nonprofits and the professionals working to end modern-day slavery. 

Law Enforcement Today is proud to support DeliverFund and the work they are doing within the law enforcement community.  We encourage you to support their endeavors on this takeover by donating here.

We’ve told you about DeliverFund before. This team of former Special Operations Veterans, NSA analysts, members of Delta Force, CIA, FBI and Navy SEALs has its sights set on destroying human trafficking rings. These are the men and women that are rescuing innocent victims and devastating markets on a daily basis.

Here’s the issue. Our government has agencies to combat narcotics, firearms, smuggling, and a host of major problems in our country. Yet it’s 2018 and we still don’t have a dedicated department going after sex traffickers. See the problem?

Enter DeliverFund.

You may have seen founder and CEO Nic McKinley in Vice’s recent episode, ‘The Real Jack Ryan’. This former CIA and special operations vet brings his expertise to helping train police departments how to track and take down traffickers. 

Relocating to Dallas is a key move for DeliverFund, considering the high percentage of cases they’ve dealt with in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area.

“Dallas has a great hub of people who care about doing good in the world and have the financial capacity to do it,” notes Mahugh. “There’s a large problem, but also significant capability to solve it. … Plus, we have a massive amount of law enforcement in this area who want to be part of the program, so having headquarters here lets us get many more officers trained for much less than it would cost them to get to Albuquerque for seven to 10 days. There’d be a lot more options we could provide.”

Eric Bauer, a lawyer who helped represent multiple victims against Backpage.com had this to say. “The two major criminal industries in this country are drug trafficking and sex trafficking. For drugs, we have the DEA. For sex trafficking, we have DeliverFund.

If you want to make a direct impact in the take down of human traffickers, you can support DeliverFund right here.


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