What Is Online Exploitation?

Online exploitation encompasses: financial exploitation through sextortion or fraudulent relationships; sexual exploitation through intimate imagery, grooming, and coercion; and labor or trafficking exploitation facilitated by social media deception. For intimate imagery-based exploitation, the TAKE IT DOWN Act provides the most direct legal remedy. For broader exploitation — trafficking, grooming of minors, fraudulent relationships — additional federal statutes (FOSTA-SESTA, 18 U.S.C. § 2422, and others) and law enforcement agencies including NCMEC and the FBI have jurisdiction.

Key facts about this term

1. NCII is the most common form of digital sexual exploitation Non-consensual intimate imagery distribution affects far more people than other forms of online sexual exploitation and has the most well-developed legal remedies.
2. Multiple agencies have jurisdiction over online exploitation The FBI, NCMEC, DHS, and state attorneys general all have roles in different categories of online exploitation. Reporting to the appropriate agency ensures the most effective response.
3. FOSTA-SESTA addresses platform liability for sex trafficking The FOSTA-SESTA law creates platform liability for knowing facilitation of sex trafficking. It is separate from NCII law but part of the broader legal framework addressing online sexual exploitation.