Georgia AG Chris Carr on Investigating Roblox and Fighting Online Predators

Summary

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Parenting in a Tech World

Episode Summary: Georgia AG Chris Carr on Investigating Roblox and Fighting Online Predators

Date: March 18, 2026 | Host: Titania Jordan (Bark CMO) | Guest: Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr

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Episode Overview

This episode features Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, whose office is leading key initiatives to protect children from online exploitation, human trafficking, and predatory behavior on major platforms, with a focus on Roblox. Host Titania Jordan and AG Carr discuss the scale of the problem, real-world cases, regulatory hurdles, and practical steps for families and communities to keep kids safe online.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background on Chris Carr's Child Protection Work

• Creation of Georgia’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit: Since 2019, over 200 children rescued, 70+ convictions secured [00:00–01:55].
• Victim Demographics & Impact: Most victims in Georgia are local girls ages 14–17, not just out-of-state or international cases [02:53].
• Industry Profile: Carr emphasizes that buyers are often "literally our neighbors," challenging common misconceptions [03:38].

“The average buyer is literally a 38-year-old white male that's married with two kids and lives somewhere between 75 and 85.” – Chris Carr [03:40]

2. Launching the Roblox Investigation

• What Prompted the Probe: Parental concerns and news reports about exploitation on Roblox, including specific grooming and sextortion cases [05:09].
• Core Areas of Scrutiny:
  • How the platform handles younger children as users
  • Controls and rapid response to criminal activity
  • Whether companies are acting on known dangers
• Carr’s Frustration with Tech Companies: Despite being pro-business, holds that “if these companies wanted to do it, they would” regarding child safety controls [07:52].

3. Tech’s Accountability Gap and Parent Advocacy

• Bark’s Experience as a Counter-Example: Titania highlights Bark’s real-time monitoring capabilities, arguing that bigger players have no excuse [06:47].
• Modesty and Willingness Factors: AG Carr insists that business can coexist with child safety, but willpower is lacking at the corporate level [08:10].

“Why will they not stop the abuse and exploitation of a child? It's just, it's immoral.” – Chris Carr [09:13]

• Slow Subpoena Compliance Worsens Harm: Platforms like Snap may take up to 18 months to honor law enforcement data requests [09:38].

4. How Online Platforms Facilitate Predators

• Case Examples: 12-year-olds targeted, grooming on games/apps, including a recent Georgia conviction of a man who groomed a 16-year-old over Snapchat [05:27, 10:02].
• Specific Platform Dangers:
  • Snap Map’s real-time location sharing
  • Instagram’s suggestion algorithms exposing kids to predators
  • Quick Add features connecting kids to unknown adults
• Robust Features Enable Abuse: Even as tech adds parental controls or AI tools, advancements (such as voice masking) can enable bad actors [11:51].

“Now... you're going to be able to mask your voice to sound like a child.” – Chris Carr [12:27]

5. Frequency and Scale: Beyond "Isolated Incidents"

• Patterns Across Cases:
  • Initial contact and grooming now routinely start online [13:28]
  • Rising “sextortion” targeting boys as well as girls [14:42]
  • Small, repeated financial scams add up for predators [16:58, 17:29]

6. Parents’ Role and Misconceptions

• Not Just “Other People’s Kids”: AG Carr and Titania dismiss the “not my kid” myth [04:51, 13:28].
• Good Kids Make Bad Choices: It’s essential for parents to create safe environments for kids to admit mistakes without shame [14:42–15:52].

"Good kids can make bad decisions, yes, but let's not make them worse by paying more and doubling down." – Chris Carr [13:51]

• Ongoing Parental Responsibility: Parents must actively prescreen and monitor tech, especially on school-issued devices [23:56].

7. Anonymity, AI, and Future Threats

• Anonymity's Dangers: Imposters can easily pose as peers or children online [17:41].
• AI Escalation: Carr flags voice, image, and content manipulation as the next battleground [11:51, 12:27, 17:41].

“Anonymity. And AI, that's what really concerns me the most. And it's just going to make it more difficult.” – Chris Carr [17:41]

• Parental Consent Laws Under Fire: Ongoing legal battle to defend Georgia’s under-16 parental approval rule, despite tech industry opposition [17:41–19:56].

8. Policy and Collective Action

• Bipartisan/Nationwide Efforts: Multistate AG investigations are growing, with Roblox as a flashpoint [26:28].
• Federal and State Initiatives: Advocacy for the Kids Online Safety Act, algorithm transparency, and stricter confirmation of user identity [19:56].
• Encouraging Parental Delay/Limitations: Recommendation to delay giving children tech access or use robust tech controls [21:11].

"The longer you can wait to put your kids online, the better." – Chris Carr [21:11]

9. Schools, Tech, and Social Development

• Cellphone Bans: Georgia bans through middle school, Carr supports extending to high school [21:44].
• Post-COVID Soft Skills Crisis: Loss of social/emotional skills linked to overreliance on digital devices in/after pandemic [22:44–23:25].
• Academic Impact: More tech in classrooms has not improved, and may have worsened, reading and engagement scores [23:25].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Parental Blind Spots:
  "A lot of parents will think not my kid..." – Titania [10:56]
• On Industry Responsibility:
  “If people of goodwill want to make it happen, it will, particularly in this space.” – Chris Carr [07:52]
• On Ultimate Priorities:
  "If we can't come together on this, then we gotta just pack it up ... this is a nonpartisan issue, as nonpartisan as nonpartisan gets.” – Chris Carr [27:11]
• On Anonymity and AI:
  "There could...be some real positives that come out of it, and we can also have some real negatives..." – Chris Carr [11:51]
• On First Amendment ‘Excuses’:
  _“Buying and selling a child or sending them pictures is an act that is not speech, that's not protected." – Chris Carr [28:12]

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:00–04:51]: AG Carr’s introduction, overview of human trafficking work, real Georgia case examples
• [05:09–06:47]: Why launch a Roblox investigation, specific cases, what AG’s office is looking for
• [07:52–09:38]: Tech industry accountability, slow cooperation, systemic obstacles for enforcement
• [10:56–12:27]: Parents’ misunderstandings, how features like Snap Map, Quick Add, and AI escalate risk
• [13:28–15:52]: Frequency of online crime, shift from “outlier” to “pattern,” sextortion and shame-driven crises
• [17:41–19:56]: The threat of anonymity and AI, legal battles over parental consent laws
• [21:44–23:56]: Cellphone bans in schools, post-pandemic social/academic challenges
• [26:28–27:42]: Multistate investigations, bipartisan consensus, nonpartisan imperative
• [29:33–34:08]: How listeners can help, resource recommendations, importance of community vigilance

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Practical Resources & Takeaways

• Simply Report App: Free tool to report suspected trafficking instantly [31:40].
• Encourage open conversations at home about online dangers, especially regarding sextortion and image-sharing [14:42–15:52].
• Leverage technology wisely: Use parental controls, monitoring devices (like Bark), delay smartphone/social use where possible [21:11, 23:56].
• Be vigilant and proactive: Don’t assume safety; check devices, understand app features/settings, talk to your kids regularly [25:00–25:36].
• Support broader advocacy: Stay informed about legislative efforts and community programs (see Kids Online Safety Act) [19:56].

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Closing Thoughts

Chris Carr and Titania Jordan’s discussion makes clear that the fight against online child exploitation demands urgency, innovation, and collaboration at every level—parental, community, legislative, and corporate. Exploitation is not rare, and as technology evolves, so too must efforts to shield the most vulnerable. Above all, they urge parents: Stay vigilant, push for accountability, and never assume “it can’t happen here.”

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“Everything seems like it's happening earlier in school, whether it's from the curriculum to issues kids have to deal with, and we gotta be there for them.” – Chris Carr [32:43]

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Transcript

[A]

Today, we are honored to welcome Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who has been leading the charge to protect children online and hold tech companies accountable. Attorney General Carr has served Georgia since 2016 and has made child safety a cornerstone of his work from creating Georgia's first of its kind human trafficking prosecution unit in 2019, which has rescued over 200 children and secured more than 70 convictions, to launching investigations into platforms like Roblox for reports of child exploitation. Recently, his office secured a conviction against a Hart county man who trafficked a 16 year old girl after grooming her on Snapchat and other apps. Today we'll be discussing his investigation into Roblox, the alarming ways predators are using online platforms to target children, and what can be done to keep kids safer online. Attorney General Kris Carr. It is an honor, Titania.

[B]

It's an honor to be with you.

[A]

Oh my gosh.

[B]

And thank you for what you do.

[A]

Well, we have an amazing company with an amazing mission and it truly is an honor to be doing this and to have been doing this for the past 11 years. So I got a Google alert and saw what, what you were doing to help bring awareness and accountability to Roblox and I think I jumped out of my chair and cheered. I was like, yes, finally. Yes, like this, this platform we'll talk about a lot. But Roblox in particular is a behemoth and it is so trusted by children and parents they do not know. And it's up to the people who do know to hold them accountable. So anyway, I'm not here to just talk the whole time we have you here.

[B]

I appreciate it and you're right and I know we're going to talk a lot about it. So. But I'll tell you one thing, I just want to say yes, is as the former commissioner of Economic Development, I'm probably as pro business as any attorney general in the country.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And I am so grateful for the tech infrastructure and the ecosystem we have in Georgia. What is frustrating to me is, is when some use their platform and look the other way or allow themselves to be kind of, you know, taken over by some. But then there's companies like yours that do it the right way. So it's, you know, again, I think I'm actually in a position having helped grow businesses and want businesses to come to Georgia, including tech companies. But to be able to, we have an obligation to children.

[A]

We do.

[B]

Period. And so I'm very much looking forward to today's conversation.

[A]

All right, let's get into it. You are, you're A busy man. A lot of people want your time and, and so let's start by just covering the human trafficking prosecution unit and the work that you've been doing to protect children in Georgia.

[B]

Yeah, so one of the things I think I'll be most proud of is that unit, you know, so when I became attorney general 10 years ago, we were a very civil practice, meaning we represented the agencies, boards and authorities that comprise state government and did it well. And that's still part of our job. But since 2019, we are, excuse me, 2017, we've picked up other jurisdictions, including human trafficking. And here's what it is. I mean we are literally talking about those 200 victims that you're talking about in Georgia alone are generally 14 to 17 year old girls. Now that isn't the case all over the country, but it just, it is what we have seen and folks think, oh, wait a minute, you know, is it because Hartsfield that people are coming here? No, no, no, no. These are actually kids. I mean some are from out of state, but a lot of kids that are from Georgia. And we focus on buyers, sellers and enablers. So not just the ones that are selling, not just those that are coming in and buying our kids five to 10 times per day, but who's an enabler like a hotel clerk. And one of the things I think is very interesting, we're talking about buyer in Atlanta, Georgia. I had a fraternity brother that did some research and he said the average buyer is literally a 38 year old white male that's married with two kids and lives somewhere between 75 and 85. It's not people that are coming here for conventions. It's not people that are flying here through Hartsfield. It is literally our neighbors. And again, when you just start seeing this horrific industry, many of whom are meeting online so that, that's transformative. I mean those lives are going to forever be changed. But think about it. You break a human being when you buy and sell them for sex. You break them. And fortunately we have some great nonprofits and others that provide wraparound restorative services. But I mean, thank you're talking about an 8th to 11th grader talking about your kids. I had, we had, I had a daughter, I have a stepdaughter. These. That's a very important time in their life. And they need a lot of mental health services, physical health, educational wraparound services that are needed. But again, many of whom have met online.

[A]

Well, and so many parents think, not my kid. It can absolutely happen to your kid.

[B]

Yeah,

[A]

you Just announced an investigation into Roblox for reports, reports of child exploitation. What prompted this investigation and what are you looking for?

[B]

Yeah, it was concerns from parents. It was national news stories. The fact that, I mean, again, we're parents too and Roblox has become a big gaming platform. The concern, again, like I said, I'm going to go back to what I said. We adults have an obligation to protect children.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You know, again, if we're talking about adults, you know, dealing with online and doing things, that's a whole different conversation. And you know, folks have constitutional rights and First Amendment, but we're talking kids. We're talking about kids. And when you have a platform that truly tends to target younger children and as you know, if there is any way for two human beings to communicate, unfortunately the bad guys will find that way as well. So Again, we had two cases. One was a 12 year old boy from DeKalb county that was being asked to send pictures, that was receiving pictures. We had two young girls that were being groomed by a guy from Florida. And so we just were wanting to go in and say, okay, what are the controls? What are you doing? Are you targeting younger kids? What are you doing when criminal activity is found? And this is my frustration with the social media companies and some tech companies. There is an opportunity here for great goodwill. And there are a lot of challenges in the world, you know, as it relates to business or AI and all the things we're having to deal with. This one seems to me to be easy. This seems easy. We're talking about children, we're not talking about adults. And so I get very frustrated when some and the, you know, the associations and that type of thing are the companies push back and don't want to help us.

[A]

It's infuriating. And to that point, you know, at Bark Technologies we have around 100 employees. We do not generate as much revenue as Roblox or Meta or Snap or TikTok. Yet, yet. And yet we are able to surface almost in real time the dangers that are happening to children. Dangerous content and people. And we are able to launch a smartphone that doesn't even allow a child to take a nude photo or video. If we can do that, Apple, Google and social media can too. So I don't want to hear about the moderation team complaints or budget constraints or privacy. Well, I'm not going to say that word, but it's all smoke and mirrors. It's smoke and mirrors. And they want plausible deniability at best, at worst, who knows why they're not taking action, especially the heads of those companies that are parents themselves.

[B]

If people of goodwill want to make it happen, it will, particularly in this space. Look, I'm a business major with a law degree. I'm not going to pretend to know all the ins and outs, but I know enough that if these companies wanted to do it, they would.

[A]

Well, and what's coming out in just the trials that are happening in Los Angeles where Adam Mosseri and Mark Zuckerberg had to testify under oath and the discovery process that's coming out of what they knew and decided to not do, that's incredibly damning.

[B]

I mean, it is. And whether it's human trafficking or child exploitation or the rise of mental health challenges or the rise in suicide, again, we are talking about children. We adults have an obligation to do whatever we can and whatever we need to to protect them. And look, this is tough. This is tough. You know, somebody told me years ago when my daughter was getting older and, and said, when you think about buying that phone for Mary Clifton, think about this. And I can't remember if she was 8, 9 or 10, but whatever age it was, would she, they said, would you put Mary Clifton in Times Square by herself at 8, 9 or 10? It's, it's even worse with a phone because there's true anonymity. And to me, it's even more dangerous to watch that and say, and it is a challenge. It is here. We have to address it, we have to deal with it. But again, I go back as somebody that is pro business and I love innovation and I want people to keep moving forward. Why will they not stop the abuse and exploitation of a child? It's just, it's immoral.

[A]

And why won't they work faster when something very obvious has been surfaced to them? The fact that you have to go to, let's say, snap with the data request or subpoena. It could take 18 months.

[B]

It can. It certainly can.

[A]

Is that like when somebody seen that too? Yeah. When somebody breaks into my house, do I call the police and wait a year and a half for them to come take fingerprints like.

[B]

No, this is what I'm talking about. That you have a chance of at some really, some goodwill. These companies have a chance at that point of, of really, I think, stepping up and win other difficult business, you know, issues come up. I think you're going to be seen more as the, the good player. And instead we see fighting more every step of the way. But it is incredibly frustrating. But that's why we're Looking at Roblox is because again, targeting younger kids on gaming, you know, and we're seeing what is, look, it's like I said to you, on the human trafficking front, too often kids are being groomed or they're being targeted on Snapchat. Again, we had a, we had a case out of Hart county where we just convicted an individual that was grooming a 16 year old girl from Cobb county on Snapchat. We just continue to see this over and over again and it's extremely troubling and it's infuriating to me and a

[A]

lot of parents will think not my kid or they don't quite understand how, how does this happen? How can this happen? And whether it's features like Quick Add and Snap where the wrong person has connected with enough of your child's peers and your child might think oh yeah, I'm connected with those people. Sure, that's fine. To add or on Instagram it's been shown that predators because of their propensity to like underage content, Instagram will serve them that content as suggested people to connect with. It's so backwards and it's absolutely fixable. Snap Map can show your child's real time live location to anybody they're connected to in real time. I mean it's just if you're not spending time on these platforms, parents, which I get it, you don't have time to, you don't know the dangers like you know the dangers in real life.

[B]

And then add in AI oh my gosh. And now which can again be used for good. There, there could, you know, if you can base it on the algorithm and we're going to, we can have some real positives that come out of it and, and we can also have some real negatives and, and you know, we see it with scams, we see it with human trafficking. Now again you can capture the photo, you can turn it into a video, you can capture the, the voice and that type of thing. And what worries me then on Roblox and gaming and you're going to be able to mask your voice to sound like a child. So on top of it, instead of it just being written or whatever, now it's going to sound like a child.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So, so again stepping up and being able to make a difference and I know the technology's out there, I just don't think the will is out there.

[A]

No. And as a 40 year old, I was able to make myself look like an 11 year old within a few minutes to go undercover to catch Predators on social media. It's absolutely doable and it's terrifying. I want to get to the frequency because there's a lot of things that you and your team and your office have to work on and make a difference. And if it were just two isolated incidents, as heartbreaking as they would be, you know, you might not be able to go all in on focusing on this. So is this a pattern you're seeing? I guess what I'm trying to get to is a lot of times parents, in their quest to think, not my kid, think, well, that's just clickbait. That's just a platform, a campaign platform. No, it's a real problem. Can you expand on how big of a problem this is?

[B]

Yeah, again, whether, like I said, the human traffic. We see the pattern on human trafficking. A lot of our cases have started because somebody began a relationship on one of the platforms. You know, sometimes it could be a website, but oftentimes it's one of the platforms that. We've already talked about it. We've talked about child exploitation. Again, we're seeing a lot of, particularly our younger boys. You probably see this too.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That are, you know, falling for the picture thing, you know, And I've gotten calls now from a lot of friends and people that I know, and I try to remind them too. I said, look, good kids can make bad decisions, yes, but let's not make them worse by paying more and doubling down on it and that type of thing. And then Roblox and then gaming. So again, it is a total pattern that we are seeing. And with these industries, again, the anonymity and then the, as I see in human trafficking, the transitive nature of advertising, that you're going to be in Atlanta today, you're going to be in Augusta tomorrow, you're going to be in Savannah on the third day there. It's all just such a. It's such an online industry now, whereas before it used to be maybe on the back pages of. Of. Of, you know, independent newspaper. It's all online now. It's all online.

[A]

And you mentioned the boys. You know, the FBI has cited a rise in sextortion and especially boys ages 14 to 17. And I get it, whether you're a boy or a girl, when you're a teenager, if you get what seems like an interested peer that is attractive in you and you start to engage online, I understand how you can be quickly led to want to exchange photos, inappropriate or not. And then all of a sudden it turns and it turns fast. And these people are Very skilled and at not only trying to get $500 out of your child, but more photos. Get them to get photos from their friends. And if you take nothing else away from this time today with Attorney General Kris Carr, please talk to your kids. Please let them know that, you know, good kids make bad choices. And if they ever, ever, ever send a photo or a video that they wish they hadn't, they do not need to be ashamed to come to you. There is hope. There is help. The laws are meant to protect them. It can get that media taken offline. They do not need to be. And they certainly don't need to die by suicide, because that's the path that a lot of them are taking because they're too afraid to talk to their parents.

[B]

They are. And then on top of it, algorithms are pushing them that way. AI is pushing them that way. And I know some folks are saying it's not, but it is. We've seen it. We've seen the evidence. So, again, step away from the technology. Go to your parents, go to a friend. Don't keep paying, because it's not going to stop. And, you know, not likely that the photo is going to get released. But if it is, a few minutes of embarrassment is a whole lot better than continuing down this path. And, you know, I think just being strong. Step away from the technology, talk to another human being, and let's solve the problem.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

But presume that the other person on that other side is not who they say they are.

[A]

No.

[B]

Just presume it.

[A]

No. If it's too good to be true, if that really, really cute girl is, like, all about you, I hope she is, but she's probably not.

[B]

That's right. She may not even be real. Maybe a bot completely AI generated could be AI generated.

[A]

You're talking to a dude in Africa.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Or another data center in another part of the world making $10 an hour.

[B]

So, yeah, I actually stayed on the phone with a friend whose son. It was a countdown. And they spoofed him into thinking that they did send the picture. I said, all right, go find one friend that you think has gotten it and ask them. They're like, dude, what are you talking about? So again, it's a scam on top of a scam on top of a scam. But again, you just need to get 250 or $500 out of, you know, 25, 50 or 100 people. You start adding up every day, that starts becoming real money. It doesn't have to be $10,000 it just has to be that amount over and over again. So don't keep getting scammed.

[A]

Don't keep getting scammed. How would you say these platforms are making it easier for predators to target kids outside of the ways we've already surfaced? If any.

[B]

Anonymity. Yeah, anonymity. And again, this goes by. That's why Georgia, I mean, we have a, you know, parental consent law that we're defending right now. Anybody under the age of 16, you got to prove your parents got to approve. But I think too many of these platforms are not confirming that people are who they are. And, you know, they can pretend to be a child when in fact they are not. So anonymity. And I have gone back to that again, anonymity. And AI, that's what really concerns me the most. And it's just going to make it more difficult. But. But again, I keep saying, why would we not want to find out if there's somebody on a platform that is trying to take advantage of a child? So this is. This again, this is the thing that is first. But it's required us to go to court. It requires us to defend a common sense law that if you're under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia, and we have a definite interest in protecting our children, we do it every day in school. We do it with the laws that we have. Why would we not hear. And yet they are fighting it. Why are the tech companies, through their association, fighting it? You know, and look, yesterday we're at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and this is what we wrote in our brief. And I think it's just. I think it's worth it. Social media is making kids less attentive, mentally ill, emotionally stunted, unable to sleep, more likely to attempt suicide, and vulnerable to sextortion and sexual predation. And none of it is a secret. Social media companies have known about these dangers while in some instances suppressing that information and still acting to exploit children. That, to me, is the mission. That's in a nutshell. Whether it's roadblocks, whether it's, you know, kind of what we're dealing with, Snapchat and human trafficking. That, to me, encompasses the mission right now with some social media company.

[A]

I'm like, this is like Braveheart scene for me right now. I'm like, let's go.

[B]

I'm on the horse, charging. That's it.

[A]

We're doing the thing, you know, at Bark. We're doing what we can from a tech standpoint as a mom and somebody who's you know, in the public, I'm speaking, I'm educating, we're having these conversations, writing books, you're doing what you can from the legislative standpoint. What more needs to be done at both the state and federal level?

[B]

Yeah, we have like, we're pushing the Kids Online Safety act at the federal level, which just provides it's more levels of safety. It's dealing with the algorithm issue. It's basically saying if you got an underage child, you can't be targeting them, you know, using the algorithm. It does require parental consent. It provides more transparency on who's actually, you know, signing up for these, for these sites. And then again at the state level, I think we're doing it again. We're fighting tooth and nail for this, the parental consent for under age 16. But I also think what more it's this, this, it's. It's listening to this podcast, it's talking parents, talking with each other, getting over the stigma of something may have happened, you know, to your child and not being embarrassed. We see it in a lot of different spaces, but this is another one, just talking about it, getting through it. Because again, social media is not going away, but we've all got to be able to, to, to. To deal with it. And again, I'm a, I'm a capitalist. Vote with your feet. If these companies will not stand up for children, go find other platforms. And then also, I know this is hard, go. Cause we've been through this. The longer you can wait to put your kids online, the better. Or use technologies like y' all have that limit it. Know that it's out there and share that because you will be so glad

[A]

that you did 100%. Is your office exploring. And this, this question wasn't provided ahead of time, so it's fine if we need to skip it. But you know, it's one thing to be able to protect our kids at home by not allowing or allowing tech, but the tech that the schools give our kids. Is your office involved in anything like that yet?

[B]

No, that's a great point. But one thing that, in addition to this, that's kind of tangential to it, but I think really important is banning cell phones in schools.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So we've banned them through middle school and I understand that's where we could get last year. I am a big fan of banning them through high school. In addition, I don't think it's ever been more important to have kids involved in sports and the arts and hunting and fishing and scouting, because it is really hard to be on the phone when you're competing or painting or hunting or fishing or whatever it may be getting outside being with other human beings. So banning cell phones and encouraging kids to get back together, doing the things that we did when we grew up. But I don't think it's ever, ever been more important than it is now with the pull of gaming and social

[A]

media and gaining those critical social and emotional skills that a lot of them lost during COVID Yes. You know, when you're, when we Barker interviewing people, younger people, and they can't even look us in the eye, you know, it's. We've got to, we've got to revert back.

[B]

Well, and that could be a whole nother episode, the impact of COVID But there's no doubt it's real. The soft skill issue that we're seeing, whether it's a lack of ability to talk with each other again. I had a daughter that dated in high school, went to Marist, where you and I went, then got to Georgia and it was like the guys forgot how to talk to women. So there's a little bit of crisis in confidence and how to kind of deal with all that type of thing too. But we are. There's no doubt that Covid had an impact. I worry about reading scores. I mean, I know that's we're getting off topic a little bit, but Covid definitely had an. And I think we're going to be feeling it for years to come.

[A]

Yeah. And based on the most recent data I've seen from the work of Jonathan Haidt, you know, once children were given one to one tech in schools, their scores didn't get better. No, they got worse. And I know personally from where my son went at one point that there were children in his middle school that were accessing pornography on school issued devices during school time. And so if we can't keep our kids safe on the tech that we're giving them, they don't need to have that tech.

[B]

And I think our parents are the backstop. So whether you're in a public school, a private school, you know, you're homeschooling or whatever it may be, you know, double confirming that the technology is operating the way that it should. You know, Georgia, obviously local school boards are responsible for the local public schools, but then you've got private schools that are operating charter and then homeschooling. So I do think that, you know, it is not an issue to ask. To answer your question again, that we've had to get into, we certainly would be happy to help. We certainly would be happy to provide guidance in some of the things that we've seen. But, and I know it's hard for parents. I tried it too. You've tried it. It is not easy. Yeah. That's why it's great to have help and technology that'll do it. But you are the backstop. Dig in there, find out, test it. You'll be glad that you did.

[A]

What do you think parents are missing? Bringing it back to predators about where and how predators are finding victims today too.

[B]

Willing to let your kids be online gaming, communicating with people that you think is okay. I still think that's an issue. I still think that parents can hear about, oh, you know, the human trafficking case or. But it's not, you know, I know my son is playing games with his friends. Well, do you, do you really know that? And it's hard. Like I said, I'm not. When you're working, you're doing things and things are going on and you got, you know, two or three kids are doing what. It can be a challenge. But you just don't presume that, that they are talking to who they say that they're talking with. They may not even know it.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So again, I think that that's the thing. There are. And AI is changing the game and the more platforms and the more ways there are for human beings to communicate with each other, the more people are going to take advantage of it.

[A]

I don't know if you can speak to this, but has Roblox or any of the other social media platforms been responsive to your request in any sort of meaningful way or are you just.

[B]

We're just at the beginning.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. So we're just at the beginning.

[A]

Okay. Okay. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see how they respond. And even most recently, I think I saw today that WhatsApp that has been the bane of law enforcement existence from their encryption standpoint is rolling out some sort of parental control linkage thing. But I'm not optimistic that it's actually going to be meaningful.

[B]

Well, and on roadblocks, there are other states looking into this as well.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And we do a lot as attorneys general, both Republicans and Democrats when we do these multi state investigations and work together. So you're going to start seeing, I think more and more and roadblocks has just gotten everybody's attention because of the age of, of a lot of their gamers. Yeah.

[A]

Children as young as five.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Sometimes before they can even read.

[B]

That's exactly right.

[A]

And I love that you brought up the, you know, multistate and bipartisan. That's what's so wonderful about this is Democrat, Republican, independent, whatever. Everybody can agree that as adults, it is our job to protect kids.

[B]

If we can't come together on this, then we gotta just pack it up. I mean, we just need to all kind of go home 100%. We cannot agree that children need to be protected and adults don't need to be communicating with them. And we gotta stop any way that they can groom kids or meet them at a hotel or send them. Then what are we doing? Or sell them drugs or sell them or whatever. I mean, but this is a nonpartisan issue, as nonpartisan as nonpartisan gets.

[A]

It's common sense and human decency. You can't argue with it. It's like a few years ago, Apple was going to start surfacing child sexual abuse material on icloud, deleting it, flagging it, alerting law enforcement, and they walked it back for privacy reasons. And I don't think anybody who is abusing in a child online deserves privacy. Call me crazy.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Maybe it's wild to think that way.

[B]

You know, that's an. So that's another interesting point. So a lot of times these social media companies will say, hey, look, they hide behind the Communications Decency Act, Section 230, which I'm sure you probably talked about, which was intended to protect children online, which has become a protection for the companies to exploit children online. It is. It's the craziest thing. And they always come back to the First Amendment. I am a huge believer in the First Amendment, you know, but buying and selling a child or sending them pictures is an act that is not speech, that's not protected. And for, you know, the courts and for others to have come back and say, well, it is wrong. It's just flat out wrong. And so again, acts that put our children at jeopardy should not be protected under the First Amendment. Two adults talking to each other, we can disagree. We not like what they're saying or do, whatever. That may be a whole different ball game, but we are talking about children. There has always been a different standard constitutionally for protecting kids. Always has been. And all of a sudden, I don't know why, in this particular case, we think that there's. There should be some sort of exceptions.

[A]

What can our listeners and viewers do to support the work that you and your team are doing to keep Georgia's children safe?

[B]

Yeah, well, from a human trafficking perspective, we've got training programs. I Just encourage people. You know, the biggest game changer, when I started this 10 years ago, people kind of knew what it was, but it's now in the water table. And we've had community groups and we have. The first lady has a training program. And, you know, it's been. There have been movies done about it. You know, Sound of Freedom, all this. The more eyes that we have on this issue, the better outcomes we're going to be. There's some great nonprofits out there that really help restore the victims. The survivors who again, are so young and it's a vulnerable time in their life. They need so much help. But it really is training and eyes and not just training. Then it's kind of like we talked about stigma before. Get over the stigma of saying, well, there's an older guy and a younger girl. They're not looking at each other. They don't have any luggage. They're at the airport. That's. But I'm sure it's nothing. We got to get over the. I'm sure it's nothing. Because it would be better for us to be wrong than let one more child be exploited or abused or sold. And then the same thing on online. It is two things. One is take an active role. Or three things. Take an active role. Use the technology that. That's out there. But like we had in the Snapchat case, where a father started seeing some, you know, strange activity on a venm. If you think something is happening to your child or somebody else, let us know. Let us at least look in there. Let us. Let's see what we can do. But this is going to be a continuous challenge. As we've talked about, technology is changing. AI is coming on. But the more we educate and prepare ourselves. Again, we are talking about one of the most vulnerable populations in society, our kids. And let's do all we need to do to keep them safe.

[A]

Couldn't agree more. As you were talking, I was thinking about two guests we had on the podcast a few weeks ago, Christy Wells and Brittany Dunn of the Simply Report app. I don't know if you've heard about it, but I have not. But it's amazing. It's an app that they've launched nationwide to help you identify and report human trafficking.

[B]

That's great. We'll make sure we can.

[A]

Yeah, please. Yeah. Simply Report app. It's free. You download it. And just like that, if you see an older man and a younger woman and there's no luggage and something just seems off, put it in the app. They. They move fast. They help to rehabilitate victims. They have safe houses. They. They actually have a documentary now out if you fly Delta, which I do, because Atlanta, you can watch it on. On Delta right now.

[B]

So anyway, that's great. Yeah, that's fantastic. Thank you for letting me know.

[A]

Yeah. And if your team has any resources, training from the first lady or anybody that they want to share for us to share with our audience, we'd love to give people the resources they need because we, you know, we don't learn about this in school.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This isn't a topic of conversation as much as it should be because there it's. It's hard to talk about. It's heavy.

[B]

It's. It's very difficult and we think the kids are too young. But then we have to look to see the ages of the victims.

[A]

Right.

[B]

We have to be able to do it. And yes, there's a proper way to do it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

There's an age appropriate way to do it, but it's gotta be done. Everything seems like it's happening earlier in school, whether it's from the curriculum to issues kids have to deal with, and we gotta be there for them.

[A]

Amen. I know I said amen a lot and you're not a pastor, but, like,

[B]

you just look, I'll take it.

[A]

I'll tell you, like, let's go again back to Braveheart. Like, we're all going to leave here and just go do good work.

[B]

Absolutely. We'll play the. We need to play the theme music from Braveheart. Let's get it going. Absolutely.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. Okay.

[B]

Well, and again, thanks for what you're doing on this, too. It really matter. The public sector and the private sector have to come together, and we have much better success when we do that. And we have a history of that in this state. I mean, that's how Georgia has been built. We've addressed some really tough issues, but it's because the public sector and private sector comes together to do it.

[A]

And the fact that we are filming here at the Atlanta Tech Village, that Atlanta has become such a technology center and hub that we can even launch a company like Bark, not in New York, not in San Francisco. That wasn't necessarily possible 15 years ago.

[B]

I came to the Atlanta Tech Village when I was commissioner of economic development was kind of being built. The finishing touches. And to see the innovation that we have here or down at Georgia Tech or at some of our other innovation centers, just fantastic. It's exciting. It's exciting.

[A]

It's a really exciting time to be alive. I'm grateful for every minute that I get on this planet, and I'm so thankful for your time. Thank you so much.

[B]

Thank you. I appreciate it.