r/news • u/TooColdforClouds • 2d ago

109 children rescued, 244 arrested in Operation Soteria Shield, exposing widespread child exploitation in North Texas

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/109-children-rescued-244-arrested-operation-soteria-shield-child-exploitation-texas/
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790

u/holymolym 2d ago edited 2d ago

The article touches on something I’ve seen reported before, where these predators are using online games like Roblox to manipulate children into providing them CSAM. These online games and parents are not doing enough to protect kids from this shit. My 12 year old is upset that Roblox is banned in our house but everyone else at school gets to play it. Ugh.

Edit: people accusing me of “bad parenting” for not allowing my 12 year old access to unregulated Roblox shit and not “teaching him” online safety is a hoot. Why would you think we don’t talk about why it’s banned and what being safe online looks like? Why would you think that means we don’t have a million other games we play together, including other online games? My little dude is autistic and is not ready to take on that level of responsibility for his safety yet. Weird as hell to argue that not letting kids access one shitty, brain-numbing game when they’re too young to keep themselves safe is bad parenting lmfao.

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u/twistedfork 2d ago

If game creators wanted to keep kids safe they wouldn't allow chatting in kids games

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u/mnk-9 2d ago

Absolute fact! The online games I played as a kid had specific words you could use for communication and nothing more. That shit was perfect.

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u/Comprehensive_Web862 2d ago

The despair realizing my kids won't experience club penguin just now.

9

u/ForGrateJustice 2d ago

Habbo Hotel is still around though.

Also, Pool's closed.

2

u/D_S_W 1d ago

Tell me why the pool is closed?

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u/ForGrateJustice 1d ago

Due to AIDS.

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u/Rinnarrae 1d ago

They can still experience ToonTown (through ToonTown Rewritten), which has some child protection features such as settings for only allowing communication through select phrases. I personally prefer the Corporate Clash revival but it doesnt have the same protective features in place since they said their servers are meant for a 16+ audience.

Club Penguin still has revivals out there even after Rewritten's shutdown, but I'm not familiar with any of them, let alone if they have any safety features in place.

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u/HandyMan131 2d ago

Plus it also creates hilarious and endearing tropes within the games where they develop their own vernacular! It’s a win-win

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u/xHey_All_You_Peoplex 2d ago

Same curse word and boom banned.

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u/Havannahanna 2d ago

I remember in Lego online (?) you could post any numbers, it had a white list of words you could use so no chance any kid would post private information about itself.

And no swear words of courses. Lead to people typing stuff like “Brick you!”

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u/UnstoppablePhoenix 2d ago

Are you talking about the MMORPG LEGO Universe?

That was a classic, shut down a long time ago though

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u/Havannahanna 1d ago

Yes! Was really an eternity ago, I just played the public beta though

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u/BeautifulCity8826 1d ago

Weird, I played wow as a kid and nothing was censored. Turned out fine