Child Rescue Coalition’s (CRC) technology pulls real-time data from child predators’ activities, down to the type of files shared, when and where. “Confessions of a Predator” connected that data to an innovative mailing system that turned information into live email confessions from predators detailing their crimes. So, each time child sexual abuse files were shared, it triggered an email with a real data lead to local lawmakers, urging them equip their law enforcement with the tools to catch them. Ending each letter, a CTA prompted them to act and use the real leads given to them to initiate investigations.

There are more than 500,000+ child predators online every day. Child predators have access to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) due to the easy, anonymous, and on-demand availability of these illicit graphic images and videos of child victims — with an alarming 85% of online predators also committing hands-on abuse. To fight this crisis, Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) built technology that detects sharing of CSAM in real time. In the hands of law enforcement, it can be used to identify, locate, and arrest predators. But too often, police departments lack the resources to adopt the free technology and act on it. Lawmakers routinely neglect the crisis of CSAM, avoiding it entirely or making goodwill gestures without allocating funds to address the immense problem of CSAM. We needed to make the invisible problem of CSAM visible to the lawmakers who hold the power to make real change possible.

Child Rescue Coalition’s (CRC) technology identifies predators in the moment they share child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), but that data was largely unknown by our target audience. “Confessions of a Predator” is the reimagining of real child predator data—a first of its kind, data-centric campaign that transformed data capture into confessions from predators themselves in real-time. The emailed confessions shared the real predator, such as file names shared (email excerpt: Today at 8:00PM…I shared a file named “PTHC [REDACTED] little girls 9yo 10yo 12yo.mp4”). The experience of reading real predator data, triggered in real-time, created a powerful wake up call—something that can no longer go unnoticed for our target audience of legislators. In the closing of every predator’s email confession, we pointed the lawmaker to reply directly to the email to begin a conversation with CRC and use their power to protect children.

On average, Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) identifies 27,000 records a minute relating to the trade of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), with 78% depicting children under 12. Yet, a New York Times exposé wrote “...state lawmakers…have refused to discuss the problem in detail, or have avoided attending meetings and hearings when it was on the agenda.” Legislators with the power to rescue children were, at best, unaware of the problem, or at worst actively avoiding it. The sheer enormity of the crisis caused retreat—the issue was out of sight and out of mind. Our strategy was built on the principles of psychic numbing—feeling indifferent to the suffering of large quantities of people—and salience. We needed to bring the data to life ONE case at a time and to put the crisis in front of the legislators who avoided it and urge them to allocate proper resources to fight it.

Child Rescue Coalition’s (CRC) technology identifies predators in the moment they share child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), but that data was largely unknown by our target audience. “Confessions of a Predator” is the reimagining of real child predator data—a first of its kind, data-centric campaign that transformed data capture into confessions from predators themselves in real-time. The emailed confessions shared the real predator, such as file names shared (email excerpt: Today at 8:00PM…I shared a file named “PTHC [REDACTED] little girls 9yo 10yo 12yo.mp4”). The experience of reading real predator data, triggered in real-time, created a powerful wake up call—something that can no longer go unnoticed for our target audience of legislators. In the closing of every predator’s email confession, we pointed the lawmaker to reply directly to the email to begin a conversation with CRC and use their power to protect children.

“Confessions of a Predator” transformed hidden predator behavior across 10 states into 842 criminal leads included in the letters showed the scale of the problem to legislators. Each lead was sent to multiple key legislators, resulting in 24,452 appeals to fight the crisis of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Although our audience of legislators has historically avoided CSAM, the open email rate on launch day was 30%, surpassing industry benchmarks by 50%. “Confessions of a Predator” launched on April 11th. As of April 20th, 11 predator investigations have been initiated and more will follow. For every predator arrested, CRC estimates 50-150 of their future victims rescued. If these investigations reach fruition, up to 1,650 future child sexual abuse victims will be rescued.

The Internet has created an explosion in child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Child predators have infinite access to CSAM due to the easy, anonymous, and on-demand availability of these illicit graphic images and videos of child victims. Each individual file of CSAM documents a crime, and possession is a felony. Social media platforms have a primary role in facilitating the spread of CSAM, but lack regulation to monitor it. Platforms deflect responsibility, and prioritization of privacy enables predators to share material and educate new predators under the cloak of encryption. Social platforms should take responsibility for enabling predators, but with an alarming 85% of online predators also committing hands-on sexual abuse, there’s no time to wait for platforms to act. It falls on lawmakers to allocate the resources for law enforcement to curb the exponential spread of CSAM and identify and arrest child sexual predators to prevent further abuse.