This increase took place during a time when Florida had in place, the most robust, most draconian sex offender registration scheme it has ever had, viewed by some as the strictest such scheme in the country.

These crimes have taken place on Snapchat, dating apps, and gaming platforms. This is surprising, for two reasons. First, Florida law requires all persons that the state designates as sexual offenders, to register their Snapchat identities, dating app usernames, and (when used for direct user to user social communication) even gaming platform usernames, to local authorities, who forward this information to the FDLE. Second, many such platforms already have a policy of disabling any accounts belonging to registered sex offenders (across the nation). With such robust and overlapping policies in place, the question is, how is it that local authorities, state authorities, and multiple social apps, all combined, still failed to prevent a 67% increase in sextortion of children.

How can we protect our children from sextortion? ABC Action News asked a therapist this question. And the therapist outlined multiple protective measures. But what the therapist did not identify as a protective measure, was checking the registry. This was not even mentioned, despite the fact that the registry is public and instantly available to all community members with an internet connection.