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A notorious Venezuelan gang that has spread its tentacles across the US is now terrorizing ‘every major city’ in Tennessee, local officials have warned.

Tren de Aragua was described by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation director David Rausch as a violent ‘super gang’ in Tuesday’s budget meeting.

‘We know they are on a pathway to more violence,’ said Rausch. ‘They are back in all our major cities. They are running human trafficking operations.’

Read more here.

A San Francisco federal judge overseeing a lawsuit from a woman alleging a sex trafficker used Meta Platforms Inc.‘s Instagram app to sell her for sex was challenged by the scope of the tech industry’s federal immunity law at a Tuesday hearing.

Judge Rita F. Lin said differing legal precedents from appeals courts about the powers of Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act left her conflicted about whether that legal shield applies to Meta.

“I’m having a hard time reconciling these cases in some ways,” Lin said of the different rulings.

Section 230, passed by Congress in 1996, immunizes internet platforms from civil lawsuits that stem from actions and content posted by users.

The plaintiff, who goes only by Jane Doe, alleged that Meta has “knowingly created a breeding ground for human trafficking” on Instagram by failing to properly verify the identities of user accounts.

Read more here.

Toy manufacturer Mattel has apologized for a misprint that appeared on the packaging of its line of “Wicked” dolls and listed an address for an adult website.

The error gained steam this weekend after social media users discovered that the link to the film — wickedmovie.com — was mislabeled, sending consumers to Wicked Pictures, an independent adult film company.

Read more here.

The federal judge overseeing Sean “Diddy” Combs’ racketeering and sex trafficking case has denied his request for a gag order against his victims and their lawyers, ruling the demand “unprecedented” and “unwarranted.”

Attorneys for the embattled rapper claimed last month that “inflammatory extrajudicial statements” from victims and their attorneys were hurting his chances of a fair trial, but Judge Arun Subramanian ruled Friday (Nov. 8) that such “an extreme remedy” would threaten free speech.

Read more here.

The Glendale Police Department is praising a 14-year-old girl’s fast thinking when a man in Glendale tried to lure her, officers said on Wednesday.

Police said she was walking home from school when 37-year-old Isaiah Navarro approached her in a red car and tried to talk to her on 57th Avenue just north of Olive Avenue on Oct. 16.

She knew better than to talk to strangers or get in their cars.

Read more here. 

Arizona Proposition 313 has passed. This is bad news, no matter how much the ballot measure’s backers portrayed it as a simple measure to indicate that “children are not for sale.”

Obviously, selling children is already banned, federally and in Arizona. And the specific crime that Prop 313 is concerned with—sex trafficking of minors—is already illegal at the state and federal level, with heavy prison sentences for those who disobey.

Proposition 313, which institutes a mandatory life sentence for this crime, passed with more than 60 percent of the vote, per the Associated Press. But this measure will mean more injustice in Arizona, not less. It could even mean more injustice for victims of sex trafficking.

After the suicides of two French 15-year-olds, families are suing TikTok in the first group lawsuit against the tech giant in Europe.

Attorney Laure Boutron-Marmion, representing seven families, told broadcaster franceinfo on Nov. 4 that the families allege TikTok’s algorithm recommended children videos promoting suicide, self harm, and eating disorders.

“The parents want TikTok’s legal liability to be recognized in court,” Boutron-Marmion said. “This is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are, in addition, minors. They must, therefore, answer for the product’s shortcomings.”

Read more here.