In an effort to deter would-be sex offenders from preying on underage youth, DNA Seattle has created and launched “Project: SugarFree,“ an automated artificial-intelligence (AI) technology platform that intercepts predatory social-media posts and reports and identifies exploiters. In six weeks, while still in beta, it has successfully removed nearly 1,000 posts with elicit content originating in Washington state.
The project was created to support Seattle non-profit StolenYouth, an organization focused on dismantling marketplaces that fuel child sex trafficking. The technology built by DNA looks for “sugaring language” as the first step in a process of disrupting the “sugar” lifestyle. The practice of “sugaring” typically involves wealthy older men engaging in a commercial transaction where they provide gifts, money, trips and other things of value in exchange for the time and attention of younger women and men. The lure of sugaring— looking for or being a sugar daddy, sugar mama or sugar baby—has been identified by law enforcement as a first step into prostitution and a way to attract child sex-trafficking victims and exploiters.
“We were conducting a social-listening exercise for a client in the financial services space and noticed tens of thousands of posts using sugaring language, while mentioning our client and other big banks by name,” explained Rob Scherzer, senior data strategist at DNA. “This disturbing trend galvanized us to find a way to use technology to fight back on behalf of would-be victims. We created Project: SugarFree to respond in real time with facts and data to dissuade vulnerable populations from entering into sugaring relationships while reporting and removing exploiters and potential criminals from the Twitter platform.”
The automated AI platform uses an army of Twitter bots to seek out potential sugaring moments. The bot chooses and posts an appropriate response from a database of hundreds of pre-crafted graphics and copy designed to reply to those curious about sugaring lifestyles with facts and messages of deterrence. Tweets identified as predatory are reported.
“Sugaring, like other sex crimes, is a crime of power and privilege where abusers have the power and those being exploited typically come from our most marginalized and vulnerable communities,” explained Marnie Backer, executive director at StolenYouth. “Project: SugarFree is a unique technology platform that shuts down one of the on-ramps to exploitive behavior.”
In developing this program, DNA consulted with King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Gauen, who leads his office’s anti-trafficking initiatives and case work. Gauen said that he has seen an increase in sex-trafficking and assault cases that arise from sugaring relationships, as sugaring is being marketed to younger people, including college and high-school aged youth. “We are thrilled to partner with DNA and Stolen Youth to leverage this intervention technology in a way that prevents harm by educating people about the true risks of sugaring.”
“As we have seen with this initiative, the use of data and how you can leverage it to bring a real impact to social issues goes way beyond what we as an advertising agency traditionally do for clients,” explained Alan Brown, CEO of DNA, who is on the board of StolenYouth. “But given our agency’s long history with StolenYouth, the synchronicity of how Project: SugerFree came together is an amazing demonstration of how we can use our insights to impact our city and state and the world beyond.”
Kyra Doubek, executive director and survivor leader of Washington Trafficking Prevention recommends the following steps to prevent sugaring and trafficking of youth:
1. Keep your children’s phone during sleeping hours.
2. Do not allow access to social media apps for kids under 15 years of age
3. Closely moderate applications that are being downloaded to your child’s phone. Set up safety features that require parental approval.
4. Attend an online safety workshop for parents (www.traffickingprevention.org/events )
5. Implement a Youth Technology Agreement
Visit DNA at www.dnaseattle.com, on Twitter at @dnaseattle and on Facebook.