social media and fear-mongering

The fear-mongering never stops.

Here's a headline that will send chills down parental spines everywhere: Predators are using Fortnite to lure kids. Cops say parents need to worry

Fortnite is a very popular video game, with an estimated 45 million players which means millions of parents to frighten. The article is about more than video games; it refers to various social media platforms that should frighten parents. Fortnite and other video games get lumped into the "social media" category because players can talk to each other.

Earlier this week, in announcing the arrests of 24 alleged predators, [New Jersey] state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal warned the public that people looking to take advantage of young teens and children have more options to do so than ever due to the ever-developing landscape of internet communication.

Yes. People play video games on an increasing number of platforms. Players can communicate with strangers who are also playing the game.

"It is a frightening reality that sexual predators are lurking on social media, ready to strike if they find a child who is vulnerable," Grewal said in describing how the 24 suspects were attempting to lure and elicit sex with teenagers. 

Some of them -- a police sergeant, included -- posed as teenagers, themselves.

See, that does sound scary. Creepy men trying to hook up with underage kids.

While it is possible that someone might use video games and social media to find an underage partner, is it really a frightening reality that should worry parents?

The men thought they were chatting with 14- and 15-year-old boys and girls, but were instead talking with detectives with the New Jersey State Police's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Instead of predators looking for kids, it turns out that this is a case of predators looking for adult men to arrest. No kids involved.

The task force trains its detectives to maintain online profiles on apps known for hooking up like Tinder and Grindr.

Law enforcement likes to run sting operations to find "predators" online but are they finding men looking for underage excitement or are they finding men online and then plying them with sexy come-ons, waiting for the victim to express interest before revealing "I'm really only 14"?

An Atlanta case in February 2018 offers some answers. A man arrested in a sting operation called Operation Hidden Guardian, went to trial and was acquitted.

During Operation Hidden Guardian, which launched Nov. 9, investigators posing as children had more than 600 exchanges with people on various online platforms, including social media and chat rooms. In more than 400 of those exchanges, the suspect initiated contact with the “child” and directed the conversation toward sex.

Clearly, law enforcement officers were pulling sting targets into sex-talk, not the other way around.

In 2015, I wrote about a bestiality case in which law enforcement communicated with their target for nearly a year before the target finally gave them what they needed to make an arrest.

It is true that dangers lurk online but perhaps more for unwary adults than for children. Law enforcement runs a sting to create situations that result in an arrest, not to catch people who are already trying to lure children.

The fear-mongering is a by-product of those stings.