Lisa Haba is a partner at Haba Law Firm in Florida. She says that Twitter refused to take down a video of her client’s sexual assault even after her client showed Twitter proof that he was a minor, saying that Twitter “must be profiting from exploiting [her client].
On January 20, 2021, the Haba Law Firm, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center, and the Matiasic Firm jointly filed a federal lawsuit against Twitter.
In an interview with Jan Jekielek, host of “American Thought Leader,” Haba told the story of her client.
Haba’s client, John Doe (a common pseudonym in U.S. cases), is currently a 17-year-old high school student. When he was 13, he was targeted by online sex traffickers on Snapchat who posed as 16-year-old girls. After being manipulated by the sex traffickers, John sent them nude photos of himself. After receiving the photos, the sex traffickers began blackmailing him. They threatened to send his nude photos to people like his Parents, pastors and school teachers.
“The child spent a long Time trying to appease the traffickers and listen to their demands in an attempt to try to save his Family from their blackmail,” Haba said, “Fortunately, when they asked to meet with him, he refused them and was eventually able to break free. “
However, when he was 16, the lewd material appeared on Twitter.
In January 2020, John found the posts from his classmates. Many students at his school watched the videos, and John became a “victim of vicious bullying” and “became suicidal.
Fortunately, his mother found out and supported him by contacting Twitter and asking that the lewd material be removed from the platform.
However, after his mother made two requests and provided a copy of John’s driver’s license, Twitter failed to act.
“After waiting several days, Twitter finally uttered a devastating comment about this child,” Haba said, “We do not believe this violates our policy and we will take no further action.”
The material was not taken down until the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intervened. The indictment noted that the material had accumulated more than 167,000 views, as well as 2,223 retweets.
“They claim to have a zero-tolerance policy, but their words don’t match their actions. When our clients ask them to take down material they claim to exclude, they refuse to act.” Haba said.
“That’s basically the nature of this lawsuit.”
Twitter Profits from Obscene Content
Haba went on to say that Twitter profits from not removing sexually explicit videos of its customers.
“When you look at Twitter’s profit structure, they get advertising revenue from every distribution, retweet, view. There’s a huge incentive to advertise and an incentive to license data for those ads to stay, and that’s why the material stays around. So, Twitter is definitely profiting off of John.”
Haba explained that from their research, Twitter profits from two main sources. One is their advertising service: Twitter profits every time an ad on Twitter is clicked or viewed. The other way is data licensing. “And of course, that’s done by people posting, retweeting and viewing content on the platform,” she says.
“That’s what makes Twitter a multi-billion dollar business, they profit from every tweet that’s posted.” Haba stated.
Twitter’s market capitalization is $43 billion as of Feb. 4, 2021.
In its third-quarter 2020 report (pdf), Twitter earned an estimated $936 million in revenue, of which $808 million came from advertising services and $127 million from data licensing and other revenue.
Haba said they “verified every fact prior to the allegations.”
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Section 230 cannot be used to avoid liability
Habbah also noted that Twitter cannot use Section 230 to absolve itself of liability in this case.
Section 230 is part of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, which essentially provides protection for large technology companies from being sued for content on their websites.
Haba said that under FOSTA/SESTA, a new law to combat online sex trafficking, “if you profit or benefit directly from human trafficking, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee immunity for big tech platforms.”
In 2018, Congress passed a bill called the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). The bill makes it illegal to facilitate, promote or support sex trafficking and amends Section 230.
Former President Trump (Trump) officially signed the bill, in April 2018.
“Twitter is not a passive intermediary in the distribution of this harmful material; rather, Twitter is spreading and knowingly promoting this harmful material,” court documents allege, adding that “Twitter’s own policies, actions, business model, and technological architecture encourage the sexual distribution of and profit from exploitative material.”
“For example, there are known hashtags that are directly related to child pornography and its distribution,” Haba told, “which are not only operable on Twitter, but if you type them into the search bar, it will also provide suggested phrases to help you find it more effectively. “
“When you see the incredible amount of material of this nature, it’s easy to find on the platform if you know the right hashtags. It’s scary.” Haba said.
“I wanted to be a part of that fight.”
“When I was in law school, I knew I wanted to work with survivors of sexual abuse,” Haba says, “I knew I wanted to help them move through the darkness into the light and onto the path of healing.”
Haba recalled that after she heard a speech by a sex trafficking survivor, she realized “this was a violation of human dignity and Life.”
“I wanted to be a part of this fight to change that, in this country and in this world.”
Haba spent eight years as a criminal prosecutor in Florida before starting her private practice.
Speaking about her client, John, Haba advises all parents to be cautious about their children’s online activities. She noted that John “had a very stable family, very good grades” and “was a very good student.
She said she has seen traffickers spend years building relationships with potential victims online.
“It really speaks volumes that every child who has access to the Internet is at risk of being exposed to human traffickers, and I encourage every parent to pay close attention to who their child is talking to online.”
In April 2020, working with the law firm of DiCello Levitt Gutzler, Haba filed a class action lawsuit in New York against fashion mogul Peter Nygard.
Haba alleges that Nygard used his fashion business as a mechanism to run an international trafficking ring for about 50 years.
Nygard is being held in Winnipeg, Canada, and the U.S. government is seeking his extradition.
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