The Tech Policy Press Podcast

Episode Title: Inocencia en Juego: An Investigation into Groups Targeting Children on Facebook
Date: March 2, 2025
Host: Justin Hintricks (Tech Policy Press)
Guests: Lara Putnam (University of Pittsburgh), Pablo Medina Uribe (El Clip)

Overview

This episode examines the groundbreaking investigation "Inocencia en Juego" into how public Spanish-language Facebook groups—often organized around celebrities and influencers—are being exploited by adults to target children, sometimes as young as six years old, for sexual predation. Host Justin Hintricks speaks with Lara Putnam, whose research uncovered these disturbing trends, and Pablo Medina Uribe, who led the cross-border investigative journalism effort through El Clip. Together, they unpack the methodologies, findings, and systemic problems with both tech platform enforcement and legal recourse in Latin America.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Discovery and Scale of the Problem

Lara Putnam’s Unexpected Discovery

• While researching grassroots organizing and searching for political groups in Pittsburgh wards, Lara stumbled upon Facebook groups explicitly searching for children by age.
• She observed posts such as “buscando novia de diez, once, doce, trece años” (looking for a girlfriend aged 10, 11, 12, 13), and upon clicking, uncovered highly explicit sexual content—not innocent exchanges.
• Reporting these groups to Facebook yielded no results; even after three months and different approaches, the content remained up.

  “There was not sort of childlike romantic content... it was super explicitly sexual content... It was just shocking to me that this was available in a public Facebook group.” —Lara Putnam [05:17]

Persistence Despite Exposure

• Even after her 2022 Wired article prompted removal of some groups, similar content resurfaced, and as of 2024, almost identical groups and behaviors remain present.

2. Mechanics of Child Luring on Facebook

• Predators use public groups, often disguised as fan spaces for celebrities or trends (Latin American child stars, K-pop, famous YouTubers), to masquerade as the celebrity or as another child.

• They lure children into private conversations, using dares or games as pretexts, and pressure them to send explicit photos or videos—sometimes using these for extortion (so-called "sextortion").

• Other users sometimes try to warn children, posting in comments:

  “Girls, don’t trust him. It’s not the star, it’s... an old guy who’s going to send you pictures of himself naked, or is going to ask you for pictures of yourself naked.” —Lara Putnam [08:34]

• The typical "grooming" pattern involves:

  • Initiating contact in public spaces with requests for age or photos.
  • Moving conversations to encrypted/private channels.
  • Manipulating or threatening children for more material.

• The investigated groups had millions of members, highlighting vast exposure.

3. Investigative Journalism & Collaboration Across Borders

Approach of El Clip and Partner Outlets

• El Clip specializes in cross-border investigations, assembling journalist teams from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and the U.S.
• Partners pooled expertise in data investigation, graphic design, and regional context.
• CrowdTangle, a social media monitoring tool, was crucial until Meta cut access, but journalists still found new groups and fresh posts, many disguised as innocent fan or teen romance forums, but rapidly mutated to sexual predation.

  “There is no mechanism being activated inside the Facebook platform that was stopping this, because this was just continuously growing.” —Pablo Medina Uribe [15:38]

Disinterest from Major Platforms

• Partners observed that Meta’s resources and attention toward problematic content are focused on the U.S. and Europe, while similar or worse issues flourish in Latin America and other regions with less oversight.
• Spanish-speaking users are arguably the largest group globally, yet remain systemically under-protected.

4. Platform Response and Systemic Issues

Meta's Official Response

• Tech Policy Press presented questions to Meta, which replied with a generic statement affirming their global commitment to fighting child exploitation—yet the evidence gathered by researchers and journalists shows persistent systemic failures.
• Platform algorithms not only fail to prevent such activity but actively suggest “groups like this” to users, exposing algorithmic complicity.

  “The same structures that drive engagement on the platform... can be used for these predatorial ends by bad actors.” —Lara Putnam [16:58]

Ineffective Safety & Reporting Tools

• Facebook’s reporting process is slow and unintuitive, with a seven-step process that deters follow-through.
• The only reliably removed content is explicit child abuse media, but not the grooming behaviors that lead up to it.
• Platform design prioritizes engagement over safety measures; meaningful safety interventions would reduce engagement metrics.

5. Legal and Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities in Latin America

• Experts consulted note a lack of legal frameworks in most Latin American countries to classify “grooming” as a specific cybercrime, making investigation and enforcement difficult—Argentina being a partial exception.

• Socioeconomic factors, widespread poverty, and low digital literacy exacerbate children’s vulnerability.

  “People in Latin America are particularly vulnerable because of many things, but especially... there’s a lot of people living in poverty here, unfortunately. So that leaves children even more vulnerable.” —Pablo Medina Uribe [22:38]

• Cases can escalate from online exploitation to real-world trafficking; governmental and NGO support for victims is often inadequate.

6. Looking Forward: Accountability and Legal Strategies

Academic & Legal Research

• Lara Putnam, with law professor Jenna Martin, explores how international law might allow children harmed online to seek redress—potentially against their own governments for failing to protect them, based on international treaties like the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• The concept of “the veil of scale” is introduced—the idea that digital platforms enable perpetrators to harm at massive scale, far beyond the capacity of law enforcement to effectively respond.

  “You’ve brought so many children into a space where they can be contacted by a nearly infinite number of potential predators. And that’s just being scaled up with, for instance, AI...” —Lara Putnam [25:52]

Continued Investigation and Monitoring

• El Clip and partners commit to tracking what happens to the identified groups—and continuing broader investigations of tech platform accountability in harm prevention.

  “We’re going to definitely keep working on more stories about the possible harms to users from... big tech platforms not being very active in trying to moderate their content.” —Pablo Medina Uribe [29:21]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Absolutely... No one we talked to said, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen this material.’” —Lara Putnam on expert reactions [16:36]
• “We found more fan groups of more bands, a lot of K-pop bands and K-dramas... some kind of way to disguise the real intent.” —Pablo Medina Uribe [14:09]
• “I really want to get out of the business of looking at horrible things on Facebook because it’s kind of soul killing. But when there are kids being harmed... I have an obligation to do something about it.” —Lara Putnam [28:16]

Key Timestamps

• [03:47] Lara Putnam’s accidental discovery and failed attempts to report explicit groups.
• [07:28] Description of grooming mechanisms and group scale.
• [11:25] Pablo Medina Uribe on collaborative investigation and patterns found.
• [15:59] Reflection on global expert feedback and failures in platform design.
• [21:56] Legal and social failings in Latin America—expert observations.
• [24:39] Next steps: legal approaches and academic research avenues.
• [29:02] El Clip’s ongoing commitment to platform accountability and monitoring of group statuses.

Tone and Language

The discussion is candid, sometimes stark, with both researchers and journalists alternating between technical descriptions and urgent, emotional appeals. The tone is serious, professional, and often deeply personal, reflecting the gravity of the ongoing risks to children online and the frustration with both platform and governmental inaction.

Further Resources

• Tech Policy Press reporting on Inocencia en Juego
• Reports by El Clip, Chechiado, Chronica Uno, El Espectador, and Fact Checkiado (links in show notes)

This summary provides a full guide to the episode’s revelations, context, and emotional impact—essential for understanding the dangers faced by children online in public Facebook groups, the ongoing challenges of holding platforms to account, and the urgent need for more proactive legal and technical solutions.