August 5, 2024 • 28 mins
The Scary Future of Deepfake Technology | Episode 138
Chapter Markers
0:01 Social Media's Impact on Mental Health
9:26 Elliston's Experience With Social Media Incident
15:27 Online Predator Within School Community
20:28 Impact of AI on Online Safety
Ever wondered how the virtual world can turn a teenager's life upside down? On today's gripping episode, we welcome Elliston Berry and her mother, Anna McAdams, who courageously recount their traumatic journey through online exploitation and the chilling reality of revenge porn. Elliston opens up about her freshman year of high school, which started with the innocence of homecoming and school sports but took a dark turn as she became entangled in the web of digital abuse. We dissect the overwhelming influence social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok have on teenagers, and how these digital spaces can turn harmful.
We also spotlight the heartrending experience of Mrs. Anna and her daughter Elliston, who faced a harrowing ordeal of cyberbullying after manipulated photos of Elliston were spread online. Mrs. Anna shares the emotional turmoil that followed, from the immediate support—or lack thereof—from family and school authorities, to the ongoing battle for justice and protection. This discussion emphasizes the critical role of parental vigilance and emotional support in navigating the dangers of social media and protecting our children from online cruelty.
As we delve into the unsettling discovery of an online predator within a school community, we uncover the far-reaching implications of AI in online safety. With the threat landscape evolving, traditional laws and school policies often fall short, leaving victims vulnerable. Hear about the ongoing advocacy efforts, including a press conference with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and the urgent call for updated legislation to better protect our youth. Join us as we confront these pressing issues and rally for stronger laws and greater accountability from big tech to safeguard our children in the digital age. Help us in Ending Big Tech's Complicity in Revenge Porn by sharing this episode and speaking up and sharing your voice with your elected officials!
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So, if you are a high achiever or someone who wants more out of life, whether mentally, physically or spiritually, make sure you subscribe to our podcast right now!
As you can see, the Voices for Voices® show publishes episodes that focus on case studies, real life examples, actionable tips and "in the trenches" reports and interviews from subscribers like you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
I am your host, founder andexecutive director of Voices for
Voices, justin Allen Hayes.
Thank you for joining us today.
Voices for Voices is the numberone ranked TV show and podcast
where people turn to for expertmental health, recovery, career
(00:24):
advancement, intelligence.
Our TV show and podcast is allabout teaching you insanely
actionable techniques that helpyou prosper, grow yourself and
self-worth, as well as yourpersonal brand.
So if you're a high achiever orsomeone who wants more out of
life, whether mentally,physically or spiritually,
(00:47):
please make sure to subscribe toour show right now.
We're everywhere audio, video.
Wherever you like to consumeyour content, you can find us.
As you can see, our showpublishes fresh episodes each
week that focus on case studies,real-life examples, actionable
(01:08):
tips and in-the-trenches reportsand interviews from subscribers
just like you.
So if that sounds likesomething that could help you
grow personally orprofessionally, then make sure
to join me by subscribingToday's guests.
We are just thrilled andgrateful that they're able to
(01:32):
join us today.
Not a great topic, but we'reglad that they're able to join
us today, and so I'll do alittle bit of a lead-in to
introduce for our viewers andour listeners.
So one of the areas that hasbeen evolving is AI.
(01:56):
So artificial intelligence Ithink everybody has a little bit
of mixed views on whether it'sgood, bad, how it's being used,
and so you take kind of thattechnology and then you really
bring in kind of that childexploitation, individuals in
(02:24):
ways that aren't appropriate foranybody anything to be put out
there.
And so our guests today theyare going to be talking through
that.
Our guests that are joining uscame to my attention while I was
(02:52):
perusing the news last week andcame across a hearing in Dallas
, texas, that the US SenateCommerce Committee ranking
member, ted Cruz, a Republicanfrom Texas, held, and he held
this and the topic was the Takeit Down, ending Big Tech's
(03:15):
Complicity in Revenge Porn.
So our guest we have thedaughter who was the victim and
the individual that was and iscontinuing to work through the
process, and her mother as wellis going to join us to give that
(03:39):
feedback from a parentstandpoint.
As our viewers and listenersknow, I have a five-year-old
daughter and so this type oftopic it really just kind of
just terrified me of what typesof things in the future that my
daughter might be exposed to.
(04:00):
So, without further ado, I wantto introduce Ms Elliston Berry
and Mrs Anna McAdams.
Thank you for joining us on theshow.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Thank you, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Absolutely, allison, you're very brave to stand up
and speak out and be an advocatefor the unfortunate events that
have occurred.
I know as someone who's 42,it's hard sometimes to talk
about different topics whenwe're talking about us
personally and that.
(04:38):
So I want to thank you forbeing the advocate for yourself.
So it shows a lot of strength.
You're welcome.
So if we could maybe start fromthe beginning You're growing up
(04:59):
right just as a kid, having funschool, all those types of
things and then we can get intowhat occurred.
And then the second episode wecan talk about some of the
legislation that we're hoping toget through for the nation and
(05:21):
how that is having someroadblocks with big tech, and
and then we can close with howpeople can learn more about you,
the work you do, how they cansupport, support you.
So I'll send a few like to go.
You know the, you know thefloor.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I guess I it all started.
You want me to start from whathappened that day.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
If you don't start from maybe like the beginning,
just how, like you know life waslike normal.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
You know the normal yeah, I mean I was in freshman
year, my first year in highschool, and I had homecoming and
volleyball games because I am avolleyball player, as well as
football games.
I had my small group onWednesday and I had birthday
parties.
(06:13):
The beginning of freshman yearwas very fun.
I had a blast and I wasconstantly with people.
It really gave me high hopesfor the entire high school
because it was just so fun and,although school can be a little
Debbie Downer throughout thewhole or throughout that time it
(06:36):
was, it was fun.
There was a lot of good moments, moments in it and, up until
this situation, I really enjoyedfreshman year.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, and I know, kind of turning the clock back
for me, thinking about freshmanyear that, yeah, there's, you
know there's.
There's good parts, there'sparts of I I was bullied a
little bit to to an extent, andso there's some of those areas
and things that are uh, thathappen, uh, and a little bit of
(07:08):
the newness of, okay, I'm in,I'm in high school, so I got
four years and then what am Igoing to do next with my life?
So that that's.
That's great to hear thatthings were normal in as they
can be, uh, at that that time.
Maybe we'll talk a little bitnext about Instagram, just in
(07:32):
general, of social media and howthat that platform and just
social media in general, howthat is impacting just your you
and your, your fellow classmatesand in the world, because
you're growing up with it.
I, I got social media kind ofin my 20s, so you know to be
(07:55):
able to be growing up and youknow to capture moments and and
those types of things well, Igot social media at a young age
just because it seemed harmlessand it was just another app that
was popular, so I've had it.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I've been familiar with all the apps for quite some
time now and everybody uses it.
It's it's more rare for someonenot to have it and that's
everyone's main form ofcommunication.
It's everything you do is poston there.
People are always filming ortexting you or posting or making
(08:33):
videos, just everything likethat.
Everything is on like Snapchator Instagram or TikTok and just
things like that.
And growing up with it it'skind of interesting because
normally I wouldn't be able tosee everything from like fifth
grade, but I have so muchmemories that I'm just able to
(08:55):
look back on and it's kind ofit's very weird seeing all of
that and I have it just easilyon my phone and stuff and it's
kind of it's really weird seeinghow it's kind of backfired and
how it's done harm to me.
But Snapchat and Instagram andTikTok were all made with pretty
(09:19):
good intentions and to see thatit turned around and made
something horrible is like veryupsetting.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, and Mrs Anna, how was that just as a parent
growing up with as far as socialmedia and having a daughter,
Was it?
I guess?
How was it?
Like you know, as far as I'mthinking of as a parent, I am
(09:48):
watching a five-year-old anddifferent things.
As I'm thinking of as a parent,I'm watching a five-year-old in
different things, but thenknowing that there's, you know,
it's just like I said, in thepalm of our hand, we have kind
of the whole world, you know,photos and comments and videos.
How is that from yourperspective of kind of growing
up with Elliston, with this?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah Well, I guess you know we never expected
anything like this to happen.
So it's so innocent.
You know, growing up andwatching her, do her videos and
you know her friends and thatkind of thing, you just don't
expect that it could turn aroundand be something that could be
cruel or harmful.
And as a parent, I mean we had,you know, we've all.
(10:31):
I've always monitoredeverything she's doing.
I'm on those apps as well.
So you know, I feel like I'm apart of it, so that I'm kind of
in the background but watching.
But then when this happened tous last fall, I mean you can't
prepare for it and I couldn'tprotect her.
So that was part of it wasreally hard's.
Just, you know, something thathappened and yet as a parent,
(10:53):
there really wasn't anything Icould do.
So you know, early October iswhen this happened.
She was 14.
I mean, she was a baby and youknow there's nothing that we
could do to protect her.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, I mean, I just can't even fathom the experience
of having having this, thisevent, occur.
So we'll jump right in when youknow, waking up that morning
and getting the influx of flurryof texts, and we can work our
way that way.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Well, it was October 2nd and it was just a Monday, a
normal Monday, and I had wokenup with one of my really good
friends texting me and callingme.
I had received calls from thenight before and she was just
texting me and saying she sentme a collage of photos.
(11:57):
It was a photo of these twoedited photos of her and I, and
then the original photo of herand the original photo of me,
and she created this collage toshow the fake image and then the
real image to prove thatthey're fake and she had.
(12:18):
She had given me a lot ofinformation, except that these
were going around and thatsomeone had sent her these and
just asking me what to do.
And it was six in the morningand I had a long day ahead and I
was speechless.
I had no idea even what to say.
It felt like all thoughts werewiped from my head.
(12:39):
I was absolutely distraught andI didn't even I had no idea how
to come about the situation.
I didn't even want to tell mymom, but I was just so scared
and I tried to not think aboutit as I was getting ready, but
as she was texting me and askingme, like, what to do and she
had told me.
(13:00):
She told her mom.
I was like, well, maybe Ishould probably tell mine.
And I went and I was crying andI went up to to my mom and I had
showed her these photos andthen throughout, on the way to
school, I had volleyballpractice in the morning and my
mom was just very send me that,send me that, let me call.
(13:22):
Let me call her mom.
I'm calling this school Likeshe was.
My mom, thankfully, was veryprominent about trying to reach
somebody and explain what'sgoing on and I'm very, very
grateful for that.
But throughout volleyball I wasabsolutely terrified and I
didn't do my best.
(13:42):
I was so overwhelmed andstressed out and it was so scary
because I felt as if my wholeteam had seen these images and
my thoughts were reflecting onmy how I was playing and that
just was not good for me andstuff.
It was really stressful andoverwhelming.
(14:05):
But by second period I was ableto be in the front office
giving my statement to a policeofficer.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Okay, that was going to be.
My next question is howreceptive or not was the
administration when it wasbrought up?
So was the administrationreceptive to you know search for
justice, or was there anypushback at any point in that?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yes, I'll answer that part.
We have come up against a lotof resistance with all of it.
I think in the beginning, thatfirst day, I don't think they
took us serious at all and so itwas more like, oh okay, we'll
handle it, or whatever, and itjust didn't.
They just didn't really.
I don't think they really werelike, okay, we've got to figure
(14:55):
out who this is.
You know, it was kind of like,oh okay, we hear what you're
saying.
The police came in, theyinterviewed us.
You know, at that point theywere going to turn it over to
the sheriff's office and havesomeone get a hold of us.
But we never heard anythingelse that day.
Of course we took the girls outof school at that point and
they really didn't want to letthem, like, stay out of school.
(15:17):
They were like, oh, they'll befine, just send them to school.
But of course, emotionally theywere just post.
I mean, they were just soemotionally drained by all of
what was happening.
And as the day progressed, thatMonday, more girls.
He was targeting more of theirfriend group and so by Tuesday
all nine girls had been targetedand at that point he started
(15:40):
threatening.
So as on snapchat he made thegroup and then he would send out
the friend request.
If you, if you, you know, ifyou, if you friended him, then
you got all the pictures andpeople started asking him you
know, why are you doing this?
This is awful, stop, you know.
And so he started saying stufflike um, I want to go out with a
bang, I, I want to ruin thegirls, I'm suicidal.
(16:02):
So at that point you're nolonger just sending out these
awful pictures.
Now there's the threat of oh,could you come to school with a
gun, with a bomb, that kind ofthing.
So of course, all of us parentsat that point went back up to
the school on Tuesday and werelike you have to do something
about this.
And so at that point, I thinkthey started taking it more
(16:24):
serious and started interviewingkids, if you know anybody and
all the girls were trying tofigure out who it was.
Their friends were trying to dothe same, and so you know, they
were given the school names ofhey, you know you need to talk
to this person.
We've got to figure out whothis is.
In the meanwhile, he'scontinuing to send out pictures.
So it was kind of a whole weekof not knowing who he was first
(16:44):
of all and then just not knowingwhat was going to show up next,
you know.
So the girls pretty much stayedout of school that week, with
some resistance from the school,but they they did allow them to
stay at home and do their workfrom home.
Um, that was quite a week ofjust not knowing, like what's
going to happen here.
I I mean is is our you know our,you know pictures have been
(17:04):
tampered with.
But now I mean, we have toworry about going to school and
our wellbeing.
As far as just you know, is hegoing to come to school and hurt
us?
So that whole week was quite a?
Um, a roller coaster.
Um, that Friday of that week,uh, she had a volleyball game,
and so the girls, they were likewe need to go to school, we
need to try to go.
On that Friday they went, andthen by second period, the
(17:28):
school went into lockdown, whichis we still don't know why that
happened, but it did Um.
But during the lockdown he umwent online and started posting
more pictures, and so that'swhat ultimately caught him,
because he was on the schoolwi-fi and so it was able to
locate who it was based on himbeing on the school wi-fi.
(17:51):
So we we did on that friday nowell, we didn't know who it was,
but the school did, so theywere able to take some action
that way yeah, that's uh's.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I mean it's awful and I can think about.
We about a year ago had a guestthat was a victim of sextortion
and the people that were, Iguess, leading the actual
(18:20):
sextortion they were, I thinkthey were in Africa or somewhere
in a different country.
And what we've started to learnwith other guests and just as
time goes on, that theseindividuals who kind of prey,
you know the being a predator,in a sense that it's not people,
(18:42):
it's not what some may assume,that oh well, it's coming from
somebody in a different country,and then there's all kinds of
extra law enforcement hoops andcountry to country things that
have to go on.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So to learn that, even though it took five days to
learn that it was somebody notonly in the US but at the school
that had, I guess how did youfeel when you learned that it
was somebody at the school, thatit wasn know some random person
(19:19):
, just found pictures it wasterrifying, especially because
the student that did this was aclassmate of mine and I had
classes with him prior in eighthgrade, and it was really scary
knowing that someone who Ididn't even know had bad
intentions, and someone that Ithought was truly innocent could
(19:42):
do such a thing to me as wellas my friends None of the girls
had any negative relationshipwith him so it was really
hurtful seeing that he did this.
We don't know why he did this iswhat I'm basically trying to
say is we don't know what hisintentions were or what is
(20:05):
supporting this.
It's just really scary knowingthat anyone could do this and
the editing app he did use istotally free and it's accessible
for all Google users, and it'saccessible for all Google users
and it's just all the resourcesthat are there and someone could
easily do this.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Wow, yeah, and that's something that is an awful side
of AI and some of these appsand programs.
That again, how social mediakind of started with good
intentions and then over timethings fade a little bit.
(20:48):
The same thing with AI Like, oh, here's this tool, it's going
to be great, it's going toreduce time to do a project or
something.
To do a project or something,but then to know that AI was
involved kind of with that nextlevel, with photos, kind of
(21:08):
third party bringing photos fromInstagram I believe it said
that they were modifying andthat's just incredibly.
As you said, it's got to bejust terrifying because these
tools, these apps, they'reavailable for anybody and and
(21:29):
that is you know with.
So, with you coming out andspeaking, I guess, as I
mentioned, it's, it's, it'sgreat that you're are, you're
coming out, you're speaking oradvocating, because more people
need to learn and to know aboutwhat's actually going on.
Uh, because it's happening.
(21:50):
It's not, you know, happeningthousands and you know,
thousands of miles away.
It's happening right here inthe united states and you know I
lived in Houston for a coupleyears, so definitely a great
state of Texas, so you know toknow that that's occurring.
It is hard and especially withhaving that resistance from law
(22:11):
enforcement.
That had to be.
I would just in my mind.
It would be so frustrated andso upset that you know you have
the actual act of doing themanipulation with the photos.
But then, like like you said,ann, about you know bringing,
potentially, you know weaponsand you know potential, you know
(22:33):
threats like that.
I mean that that's that's on awhole new level, that's you know
whether whether the photoexperience was happening or not.
When somebody's talking andthey're going to threatening, I
have to take it serious and doyou think maybe that was a
little bit of a tipping point,uh, with with the administration
(22:56):
starting to take things serious?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
well.
Well, we just pushed it so much.
I mean, the problem was is thatthere is nothing in the student
code of conduct and there isnothing in the law as of right
now that would address this AImanipulation.
So they really didn't know whatto do with that.
So it was that part of it washard was, even working with the
(23:19):
sheriff, like they realized whathe did, they could see that it
was that part of it was hard was, you know, even working with
the sheriff, like they realizedwhat he did.
They could see that it waschild pornography, but there
wasn't anything there to helpthem to prosecute.
So it was like we're all justrunning up against the wall.
Like we know, this has happened, we can see and it's awful, but
we don't know what to do withit.
And so the school um ended upum putting him in school
(23:41):
suspension.
But it was really hard becausethey never would tell us when he
was coming back.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So that whole semester.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You know the girls are just beside himself going oh
am I going to school today?
And he's going to show up.
And so that was hard, just inthat imbalance, that influx
period of just not knowing.
Is he going to show back up?
That influx period of just notknowing.
Is he going to show back up?
And then the sheriff's officeended up prosecuting him, but
with a Class A misdemeanor andso for just distribution of
(24:08):
harmful materials.
And so it really was a slap onthe wrist and he ended up
getting probation and then, ofcourse, when he's 18, it'll be
expunged.
He'll have no recoursewhatsoever.
No one will ever know that hedid this, or their girls are
going to have to live with thisfor the rest of their lives, not
knowing.
Could it show up when I go tocollege, when I go for a job?
(24:29):
You know those pictures.
We can't for sure say thatthey're completely gone, you
know.
So we're going to.
He chose a path for these girlsthat they never would have
imagined for themselves.
So we're going to have to livewith that.
And so the school my husbandand I went to the school board
and we tried to ask them toplease he needs to not come back
(24:53):
to school period.
You need to do the right thing.
Not only these pictures are outthere, but he's threatened, the
student body as a whole and andthey wouldn't do the right
thing.
So he ended up not coming backto school, but only because his
parents took him out of school,not because the school stood up
and did the right thing as faras trying to protect our
daughters.
So we really have not gottenthe kind of response that we
(25:16):
wanted from the school.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Oh, I mean, this gives me shivers, like thinking
about that.
An event happens, we know it'sbad, the law enforcement knows
it's bad and, like you said,it's not in the code of conduct,
it's not in legislation, it'sjust, oh my gosh, so hard.
(25:41):
But there is a little bit ofhope coming with the press
conference that you had withSenator Ted Cruz and we'll pick
that up on the second part ofour conversation.
(26:03):
So we'll close out this partand then we'll start up with
that point and being theadvocate and how that
communication went with hisoffice and then, just like
you're doing today, you're beingan advocate for yourself.
The other girls that have beenaffected at your school, as well
(26:26):
as so many others,unfortunately probably don't
know, maybe, and may have aharder time finding out who
actually is behind it.
So, ellison and Anna, thank youfor joining us on this episode
and we'll see you on episodepart two here shortly.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
You're welcome and we want to thank you our viewers,
our listeners, our loyalsupporters for joining us on
this episode of the Voices forVoices TV show and podcast.
A powerful episode, verytransparent activities, current
events that are happening righthere in our own country.
(27:15):
They're happening right here.
They're not happening in otherplaces.
They may be happening there,but we are having our own
citizens that are being targetedand we need, as we'll find in
our second part, we need somemomentum from some lawmakers,
(27:39):
and so hopefully that has darted.
So catch us on episode two onnext Wednesday, and so until
next time, I am your host,justin Allen Hayes, founder and
executive director of Voices forVoices, and, as our guests have
and they always are, be a voicefor you or somebody in need.
(28:03):
Take care.
Welcome to the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
I am your host, founder andexecutive director of Voices for
Voices, justin Allen Hayes.
Thank you for joining us today.
Voices for Voices is the numberone ranked TV show and podcast
where people turn to for expertmental health, recovery, career
(00:24):
advancement, intelligence.
Our TV show and podcast is allabout teaching you insanely
actionable techniques that helpyou prosper, grow yourself and
self-worth, as well as yourpersonal brand.
So if you're a high achiever orsomeone who wants more out of
life, whether mentally,physically or spiritually,
(00:47):
please make sure to subscribe toour show right now.
We're everywhere audio, video.
Wherever you like to consumeyour content, you can find us.
As you can see, our showpublishes fresh episodes each
week that focus on case studies,real-life examples, actionable
(01:08):
tips and in-the-trenches reportsand interviews from subscribers
just like you.
So if that sounds likesomething that could help you
grow personally orprofessionally, then make sure
to join me by subscribingToday's guests.
We are just thrilled andgrateful that they're able to
(01:32):
join us today.
Not a great topic, but we'reglad that they're able to join
us today, and so I'll do alittle bit of a lead-in to
introduce for our viewers andour listeners.
So one of the areas that hasbeen evolving is AI.
(01:56):
So artificial intelligence Ithink everybody has a little bit
of mixed views on whether it'sgood, bad, how it's being used,
and so you take kind of thattechnology and then you really
bring in kind of that childexploitation, individuals in
(02:24):
ways that aren't appropriate foranybody anything to be put out
there.
And so our guests today theyare going to be talking through
that.
Our guests that are joining uscame to my attention while I was
(02:52):
perusing the news last week andcame across a hearing in Dallas
, texas, that the US SenateCommerce Committee ranking
member, ted Cruz, a Republicanfrom Texas, held, and he held
this and the topic was the Takeit Down, ending Big Tech's
(03:15):
Complicity in Revenge Porn.
So our guest we have thedaughter who was the victim and
the individual that was and iscontinuing to work through the
process, and her mother as wellis going to join us to give that
(03:39):
feedback from a parentstandpoint.
As our viewers and listenersknow, I have a five-year-old
daughter and so this type oftopic it really just kind of
just terrified me of what typesof things in the future that my
daughter might be exposed to.
(04:00):
So, without further ado, I wantto introduce Ms Elliston Berry
and Mrs Anna McAdams.
Thank you for joining us on theshow.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Thank you, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Absolutely, allison, you're very brave to stand up
and speak out and be an advocatefor the unfortunate events that
have occurred.
I know as someone who's 42,it's hard sometimes to talk
about different topics whenwe're talking about us
personally and that.
(04:38):
So I want to thank you forbeing the advocate for yourself.
So it shows a lot of strength.
You're welcome.
So if we could maybe start fromthe beginning You're growing up
(04:59):
right just as a kid, having funschool, all those types of
things and then we can get intowhat occurred.
And then the second episode wecan talk about some of the
legislation that we're hoping toget through for the nation and
(05:21):
how that is having someroadblocks with big tech, and
and then we can close with howpeople can learn more about you,
the work you do, how they cansupport, support you.
So I'll send a few like to go.
You know the, you know thefloor.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I guess I it all started.
You want me to start from whathappened that day.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
If you don't start from maybe like the beginning,
just how, like you know life waslike normal.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
You know the normal yeah, I mean I was in freshman
year, my first year in highschool, and I had homecoming and
volleyball games because I am avolleyball player, as well as
football games.
I had my small group onWednesday and I had birthday
parties.
(06:13):
The beginning of freshman yearwas very fun.
I had a blast and I wasconstantly with people.
It really gave me high hopesfor the entire high school
because it was just so fun and,although school can be a little
Debbie Downer throughout thewhole or throughout that time it
(06:36):
was, it was fun.
There was a lot of good moments, moments in it and, up until
this situation, I really enjoyedfreshman year.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, and I know, kind of turning the clock back
for me, thinking about freshmanyear that, yeah, there's, you
know there's.
There's good parts, there'sparts of I I was bullied a
little bit to to an extent, andso there's some of those areas
and things that are uh, thathappen, uh, and a little bit of
(07:08):
the newness of, okay, I'm in,I'm in high school, so I got
four years and then what am Igoing to do next with my life?
So that that's.
That's great to hear thatthings were normal in as they
can be, uh, at that that time.
Maybe we'll talk a little bitnext about Instagram, just in
(07:32):
general, of social media and howthat that platform and just
social media in general, howthat is impacting just your you
and your, your fellow classmatesand in the world, because
you're growing up with it.
I, I got social media kind ofin my 20s, so you know to be
(07:55):
able to be growing up and youknow to capture moments and and
those types of things well, Igot social media at a young age
just because it seemed harmlessand it was just another app that
was popular, so I've had it.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I've been familiar with all the apps for quite some
time now and everybody uses it.
It's it's more rare for someonenot to have it and that's
everyone's main form ofcommunication.
It's everything you do is poston there.
People are always filming ortexting you or posting or making
(08:33):
videos, just everything likethat.
Everything is on like Snapchator Instagram or TikTok and just
things like that.
And growing up with it it'skind of interesting because
normally I wouldn't be able tosee everything from like fifth
grade, but I have so muchmemories that I'm just able to
(08:55):
look back on and it's kind ofit's very weird seeing all of
that and I have it just easilyon my phone and stuff and it's
kind of it's really weird seeinghow it's kind of backfired and
how it's done harm to me.
But Snapchat and Instagram andTikTok were all made with pretty
(09:19):
good intentions and to see thatit turned around and made
something horrible is like veryupsetting.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, and Mrs Anna, how was that just as a parent
growing up with as far as socialmedia and having a daughter,
Was it?
I guess?
How was it?
Like you know, as far as I'mthinking of as a parent, I am
(09:48):
watching a five-year-old anddifferent things.
As I'm thinking of as a parent,I'm watching a five-year-old in
different things, but thenknowing that there's, you know,
it's just like I said, in thepalm of our hand, we have kind
of the whole world, you know,photos and comments and videos.
How is that from yourperspective of kind of growing
up with Elliston, with this?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah Well, I guess you know we never expected
anything like this to happen.
So it's so innocent.
You know, growing up andwatching her, do her videos and
you know her friends and thatkind of thing, you just don't
expect that it could turn aroundand be something that could be
cruel or harmful.
And as a parent, I mean we had,you know, we've all.
(10:31):
I've always monitoredeverything she's doing.
I'm on those apps as well.
So you know, I feel like I'm apart of it, so that I'm kind of
in the background but watching.
But then when this happened tous last fall, I mean you can't
prepare for it and I couldn'tprotect her.
So that was part of it wasreally hard's.
Just, you know, something thathappened and yet as a parent,
(10:53):
there really wasn't anything Icould do.
So you know, early October iswhen this happened.
She was 14.
I mean, she was a baby and youknow there's nothing that we
could do to protect her.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, I mean, I just can't even fathom the experience
of having having this, thisevent, occur.
So we'll jump right in when youknow, waking up that morning
and getting the influx of flurryof texts, and we can work our
way that way.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Well, it was October 2nd and it was just a Monday, a
normal Monday, and I had wokenup with one of my really good
friends texting me and callingme.
I had received calls from thenight before and she was just
texting me and saying she sentme a collage of photos.
(11:57):
It was a photo of these twoedited photos of her and I, and
then the original photo of herand the original photo of me,
and she created this collage toshow the fake image and then the
real image to prove thatthey're fake and she had.
(12:18):
She had given me a lot ofinformation, except that these
were going around and thatsomeone had sent her these and
just asking me what to do.
And it was six in the morningand I had a long day ahead and I
was speechless.
I had no idea even what to say.
It felt like all thoughts werewiped from my head.
(12:39):
I was absolutely distraught andI didn't even I had no idea how
to come about the situation.
I didn't even want to tell mymom, but I was just so scared
and I tried to not think aboutit as I was getting ready, but
as she was texting me and askingme, like, what to do and she
had told me.
(13:00):
She told her mom.
I was like, well, maybe Ishould probably tell mine.
And I went and I was crying andI went up to to my mom and I had
showed her these photos andthen throughout, on the way to
school, I had volleyballpractice in the morning and my
mom was just very send me that,send me that, let me call.
(13:22):
Let me call her mom.
I'm calling this school Likeshe was.
My mom, thankfully, was veryprominent about trying to reach
somebody and explain what'sgoing on and I'm very, very
grateful for that.
But throughout volleyball I wasabsolutely terrified and I
didn't do my best.
(13:42):
I was so overwhelmed andstressed out and it was so scary
because I felt as if my wholeteam had seen these images and
my thoughts were reflecting onmy how I was playing and that
just was not good for me andstuff.
It was really stressful andoverwhelming.
(14:05):
But by second period I was ableto be in the front office
giving my statement to a policeofficer.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Okay, that was going to be.
My next question is howreceptive or not was the
administration when it wasbrought up?
So was the administrationreceptive to you know search for
justice, or was there anypushback at any point in that?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yes, I'll answer that part.
We have come up against a lotof resistance with all of it.
I think in the beginning, thatfirst day, I don't think they
took us serious at all and so itwas more like, oh okay, we'll
handle it, or whatever, and itjust didn't.
They just didn't really.
I don't think they really werelike, okay, we've got to figure
(14:55):
out who this is.
You know, it was kind of like,oh okay, we hear what you're
saying.
The police came in, theyinterviewed us.
You know, at that point theywere going to turn it over to
the sheriff's office and havesomeone get a hold of us.
But we never heard anythingelse that day.
Of course we took the girls outof school at that point and
they really didn't want to letthem, like, stay out of school.
(15:17):
They were like, oh, they'll befine, just send them to school.
But of course, emotionally theywere just post.
I mean, they were just soemotionally drained by all of
what was happening.
And as the day progressed, thatMonday, more girls.
He was targeting more of theirfriend group and so by Tuesday
all nine girls had been targetedand at that point he started
(15:40):
threatening.
So as on snapchat he made thegroup and then he would send out
the friend request.
If you, if you, you know, ifyou, if you friended him, then
you got all the pictures andpeople started asking him you
know, why are you doing this?
This is awful, stop, you know.
And so he started saying stufflike um, I want to go out with a
bang, I, I want to ruin thegirls, I'm suicidal.
(16:02):
So at that point you're nolonger just sending out these
awful pictures.
Now there's the threat of oh,could you come to school with a
gun, with a bomb, that kind ofthing.
So of course, all of us parentsat that point went back up to
the school on Tuesday and werelike you have to do something
about this.
And so at that point, I thinkthey started taking it more
(16:24):
serious and started interviewingkids, if you know anybody and
all the girls were trying tofigure out who it was.
Their friends were trying to dothe same, and so you know, they
were given the school names ofhey, you know you need to talk
to this person.
We've got to figure out whothis is.
In the meanwhile, he'scontinuing to send out pictures.
So it was kind of a whole weekof not knowing who he was first
(16:44):
of all and then just not knowingwhat was going to show up next,
you know.
So the girls pretty much stayedout of school that week, with
some resistance from the school,but they they did allow them to
stay at home and do their workfrom home.
Um, that was quite a week ofjust not knowing, like what's
going to happen here.
I I mean is is our you know our,you know pictures have been
(17:04):
tampered with.
But now I mean, we have toworry about going to school and
our wellbeing.
As far as just you know, is hegoing to come to school and hurt
us?
So that whole week was quite a?
Um, a roller coaster.
Um, that Friday of that week,uh, she had a volleyball game,
and so the girls, they were likewe need to go to school, we
need to try to go.
On that Friday they went, andthen by second period, the
(17:28):
school went into lockdown, whichis we still don't know why that
happened, but it did Um.
But during the lockdown he umwent online and started posting
more pictures, and so that'swhat ultimately caught him,
because he was on the schoolwi-fi and so it was able to
locate who it was based on himbeing on the school wi-fi.
(17:51):
So we we did on that friday nowell, we didn't know who it was,
but the school did, so theywere able to take some action
that way yeah, that's uh's.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I mean it's awful and I can think about.
We about a year ago had a guestthat was a victim of sextortion
and the people that were, Iguess, leading the actual
(18:20):
sextortion they were, I thinkthey were in Africa or somewhere
in a different country.
And what we've started to learnwith other guests and just as
time goes on, that theseindividuals who kind of prey,
you know the being a predator,in a sense that it's not people,
(18:42):
it's not what some may assume,that oh well, it's coming from
somebody in a different country,and then there's all kinds of
extra law enforcement hoops andcountry to country things that
have to go on.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So to learn that, even though it took five days to
learn that it was somebody notonly in the US but at the school
that had, I guess how did youfeel when you learned that it
was somebody at the school, thatit wasn know some random person
(19:19):
, just found pictures it wasterrifying, especially because
the student that did this was aclassmate of mine and I had
classes with him prior in eighthgrade, and it was really scary
knowing that someone who Ididn't even know had bad
intentions, and someone that Ithought was truly innocent could
(19:42):
do such a thing to me as wellas my friends None of the girls
had any negative relationshipwith him so it was really
hurtful seeing that he did this.
We don't know why he did this iswhat I'm basically trying to
say is we don't know what hisintentions were or what is
(20:05):
supporting this.
It's just really scary knowingthat anyone could do this and
the editing app he did use istotally free and it's accessible
for all Google users, and it'saccessible for all Google users
and it's just all the resourcesthat are there and someone could
easily do this.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Wow, yeah, and that's something that is an awful side
of AI and some of these appsand programs.
That again, how social mediakind of started with good
intentions and then over timethings fade a little bit.
(20:48):
The same thing with AI Like, oh, here's this tool, it's going
to be great, it's going toreduce time to do a project or
something.
To do a project or something,but then to know that AI was
involved kind of with that nextlevel, with photos, kind of
(21:08):
third party bringing photos fromInstagram I believe it said
that they were modifying andthat's just incredibly.
As you said, it's got to bejust terrifying because these
tools, these apps, they'reavailable for anybody and and
(21:29):
that is you know with.
So, with you coming out andspeaking, I guess, as I
mentioned, it's, it's, it'sgreat that you're are, you're
coming out, you're speaking oradvocating, because more people
need to learn and to know aboutwhat's actually going on.
Uh, because it's happening.
(21:50):
It's not, you know, happeningthousands and you know,
thousands of miles away.
It's happening right here inthe united states and you know I
lived in Houston for a coupleyears, so definitely a great
state of Texas, so you know toknow that that's occurring.
It is hard and especially withhaving that resistance from law
(22:11):
enforcement.
That had to be.
I would just in my mind.
It would be so frustrated andso upset that you know you have
the actual act of doing themanipulation with the photos.
But then, like like you said,ann, about you know bringing,
potentially, you know weaponsand you know potential, you know
(22:33):
threats like that.
I mean that that's that's on awhole new level, that's you know
whether whether the photoexperience was happening or not.
When somebody's talking andthey're going to threatening, I
have to take it serious and doyou think maybe that was a
little bit of a tipping point,uh, with with the administration
(22:56):
starting to take things serious?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
well.
Well, we just pushed it so much.
I mean, the problem was is thatthere is nothing in the student
code of conduct and there isnothing in the law as of right
now that would address this AImanipulation.
So they really didn't know whatto do with that.
So it was that part of it washard was, even working with the
(23:19):
sheriff, like they realized whathe did, they could see that it
was that part of it was hard was, you know, even working with
the sheriff, like they realizedwhat he did.
They could see that it waschild pornography, but there
wasn't anything there to helpthem to prosecute.
So it was like we're all justrunning up against the wall.
Like we know, this has happened, we can see and it's awful, but
we don't know what to do withit.
And so the school um ended upum putting him in school
(23:41):
suspension.
But it was really hard becausethey never would tell us when he
was coming back.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So that whole semester.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You know the girls are just beside himself going oh
am I going to school today?
And he's going to show up.
And so that was hard, just inthat imbalance, that influx
period of just not knowing.
Is he going to show back up?
That influx period of just notknowing.
Is he going to show back up?
And then the sheriff's officeended up prosecuting him, but
with a Class A misdemeanor andso for just distribution of
(24:08):
harmful materials.
And so it really was a slap onthe wrist and he ended up
getting probation and then, ofcourse, when he's 18, it'll be
expunged.
He'll have no recoursewhatsoever.
No one will ever know that hedid this, or their girls are
going to have to live with thisfor the rest of their lives, not
knowing.
Could it show up when I go tocollege, when I go for a job?
(24:29):
You know those pictures.
We can't for sure say thatthey're completely gone, you
know.
So we're going to.
He chose a path for these girlsthat they never would have
imagined for themselves.
So we're going to have to livewith that.
And so the school my husbandand I went to the school board
and we tried to ask them toplease he needs to not come back
(24:53):
to school period.
You need to do the right thing.
Not only these pictures are outthere, but he's threatened, the
student body as a whole and andthey wouldn't do the right
thing.
So he ended up not coming backto school, but only because his
parents took him out of school,not because the school stood up
and did the right thing as faras trying to protect our
daughters.
So we really have not gottenthe kind of response that we
(25:16):
wanted from the school.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Oh, I mean, this gives me shivers, like thinking
about that.
An event happens, we know it'sbad, the law enforcement knows
it's bad and, like you said,it's not in the code of conduct,
it's not in legislation, it'sjust, oh my gosh, so hard.
(25:41):
But there is a little bit ofhope coming with the press
conference that you had withSenator Ted Cruz and we'll pick
that up on the second part ofour conversation.
(26:03):
So we'll close out this partand then we'll start up with
that point and being theadvocate and how that
communication went with hisoffice and then, just like
you're doing today, you're beingan advocate for yourself.
The other girls that have beenaffected at your school, as well
(26:26):
as so many others,unfortunately probably don't
know, maybe, and may have aharder time finding out who
actually is behind it.
So, ellison and Anna, thank youfor joining us on this episode
and we'll see you on episodepart two here shortly.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
You're welcome and we want to thank you our viewers,
our listeners, our loyalsupporters for joining us on
this episode of the Voices forVoices TV show and podcast.
A powerful episode, verytransparent activities, current
events that are happening righthere in our own country.
(27:15):
They're happening right here.
They're not happening in otherplaces.
They may be happening there,but we are having our own
citizens that are being targetedand we need, as we'll find in
our second part, we need somemomentum from some lawmakers,
(27:39):
and so hopefully that has darted.
So catch us on episode two onnext Wednesday, and so until
next time, I am your host,justin Allen Hayes, founder and
executive director of Voices forVoices, and, as our guests have
and they always are, be a voicefor you or somebody in need.
(28:03):
Take care.
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