10-year-old boy arrested for SnapChat threat to 'shoot up' high school, sheriff's office says



A 10-year-old Florida boy was arrested for a SnapChat threat to "shoot up" a high school, the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office said.

A Wakulla High School student on Wednesday reported to school staff that he was in a SnapChat conversation with an unidentified person who stated he was going to "shoot up your school" and "It’s y'alls last day," officials said.

The school resource officer also on Thursday obtained an arrest warrant charging the juvenile with violation of Florida Statute 836: making a written or electronic threat to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, officials said.

Wakulla High School is in Crawfordville, which is just over a half hour southwest of Tallahassee on the Florida panhandle.

With that, school staff around 4 p.m. told the school's resource officer about the threatening social media post, officials said, and the resource officer initiated a criminal investigation.

The Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office said it asked for assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and its Cyber Crime Unit, Counter Terrorism Unit, and Organized Crime Unit joined the investigation.

The agencies worked throughout Wednesday afternoon and evening and into Thursday's early morning hours to identify the source and location of the threat, officials said.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents and a school resource officer early Thursday morning "made contact with the subject who made the online threat at his residence" in Woodville in Leon County and interviewed him, officials said. Woodville is located approximately halfway between Crawfordville and Tallahassee.

The Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office said it told Wakulla County school officials that same morning that there was no imminent threat to the high school or any other district school and that the juvenile who had made the threat had been identified and would be charged.

The school resource officer also on Thursday obtained an arrest warrant charging the juvenile with violation of Florida Statute 836: making a written or electronic threat to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, officials said.

That same day, the juvenile’s father turned him in, and the juvenile was taken into custody by authority of the arrest warrant, officials said.

Anything else?

Similar threats from juveniles have prompted another Florida sheriff to begin shaming the suspects on social media, NewsNation said.

More from the outlet:

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said he’s tired of the hoaxes targeting students, disrupting schools and sapping law enforcement resources. In social media posts, Chitwood has warned parents that if their kids are arrested for making threats, he’ll make sure the public knows.

Chitwood recently posted the full name and mug shot of an 11-year-old boy who allegedly threatened to carry out a school shooting. While many praised Chitwood online, the sheriff’s tactics sparked criticism from some who say the weight of the responsibility should fall on the boy’s parents.

Under Florida law, juvenile court records are generally exempt from public release — but not if the child is charged with a felony, as in this case.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Federal authorities are investigating Meta for possible role in illicit drug sales on Facebook: Report



US prosecutors in Virginia are investigating Meta Platforms — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — for potentially playing a role in facilitating illegal drug sales on their platforms, according to the New York Post.

The report mentioned that the prosecutors have already issued subpoenas and started questioning Meta about whether it has enabled and profited from illicit drug sales on its platform. Prosecutors have also requested records related to "violative drug content on Meta's platforms and/or the illicit sale of drugs via Meta's platforms."

The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly helping with the investigation, according to people familiar with the situation. However, investigations like this do not always end in formal charges of wrongdoing, but what has been brought up is enough for the prosecutors to take a serious look.

A spokesperson for Meta said that [t]he sale of illicit drugs is against our policies and we work to find and remove this content from our services."

“Meta proactively cooperates with law enforcement authorities to help combat the sale and distribution of illicit drugs.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that on Friday, Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, joined the State Department's efforts to crack down on the sale of synthetic drugs online and educate users about the serious risks involved in it.

Clegg wrote the following on X on Friday: "The opioid epidemic is a major public health issue that requires action from all parts of US society. That’s why @Meta has joined the Alliance to Prevent Drug Harms alongside the @StateDept@UNODC & @Snapchat to help disrupt the sale of synthetic drugs online + educate users about the risks."

— (@)

Social media companies have recently come under fire from members of Congress for distributing content that has ultimately harmed young people, specifically children, per the report.

Lawmakers have been actively holding talks about the need to hold massive technology companies accountable for what third parties share on their platforms.

However, these efforts have been hampered by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which states that online platforms are not liable for what third parties post to their platforms.

There are only a few exceptions to this rule.

The Post reported that during the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth companies exploited Facebook and Instagram by advertising prescription drugs for the treatment of ADHD, anxiety, and other medical conditions.

The advertisements ultimately led to the abuse of controlled substances such as Adderall, per the report.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Surgery Without A Scalpel: How Meta’s Photo Filters Fuel Transgender Delusions

In the past, young people mimicked airbrushed models. Today, teens fixate on their own filtered image and dream about cosmetic surgery.

Former FBI contractor accused of grooming dozens of boys, soliciting child pornography



A former FBI contractor from Arlington, Virginia, has been indicted for allegedly grooming dozens of children and soliciting child pornography.

Brett William Janes, who began working for the FBI in May and previously worked for another unspecified intelligence agency, engaged with "roughly a dozen" young boys over Discord and Snapchat.

According to the Department of Justice, Janes groomed his victims by flashing his badge and "telling them he worked for a U.S. intelligence agency before repeatedly threatening suicide if the minors did not continue to communicate with him."

In one instance, the former FBI contractor successfully enticed a young boy he had met via the video game "Valorant" to "strip and masturbate over a live video Discord call," both by paying him hundreds of dollars over CashApp and again threatening to kill himself, said the DOJ.

Janes allegedly also had a 12-year-old boy create and send him child pornography via Discord "through flattery and repeated begging."

The DOJ said that in addition to soliciting and acquiring child pornography from these and other minor victims, Janes allegedly purchased hundreds of videos and images of child sex abuse material over Telegram and attempted to meet up with a minor.

Charging documents indicate that after learning one victim was only 14, Janes tried to have him come over to his house.

Paul Fisher, a special agent with the FBI Washington field office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, indicated in his affidavit supporting Janes' arrest — which took place on May 31 — that the investigation into the accused kicked off in February after a concerned father notified police in Galloway Township, New Jersey, that he had discovered his son had been communicating with an adult over Discord.

Washington-based FBI agents began pursuing the case after agents in Atlantic City, New Jersey, provided them with a lead on April 21, 2023.

The former FBI contractor appears to have made it relatively easy for investigators to track him down, having sent pictures of the badges he used to access federal buildings to his victims. His IP address, email address, and phone number also reportedly corresponded the offending Discord account.

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted him Wednesday on two counts of sexual exploitation of children and production of child pornography, one count of attempting coercion and enticement, and one count of receipt of child pornography.

If convicted, he will serve at least 15 years in prison and could face life in prison.

WUSA-TV noted that anyone who believes they or someone they know may have been victimized by Janes should contact the FBI at 202-278-2000.

Court documents indicated his username on Discord was "revision#3409."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Former FBI contractor charged with child sex crimesyoutu.be

Apocalypse GPT: Why We Must Shut Down the Artificial Intelligence Revolution Now | Ep 276

Apocalypse GPT: Why We Must Shut Down the Artificial Intelligence Revolution Now | Ep 276

Snapchat’s ‘My AI’ Is A Dumpster Fire

If your child has Snapchat, this is your sign to get rid of it.

FACT CHECK: Did Elon Musk Tweet That He Plans To Buy Snapchat And Delete All Filters?

This tweet is digitally fabricated

Social media giant's 'internal mistake' gave Democrat orgs user data on Republican voters



Democrats reportedly tapped into a treasure trove of data on Republican voters after a "slip up" at a major social media platform allowed Democrats to access the data.

What happened?

Social media platforms allow advertisers to hyper-specify who sees their ads, thus giving them the best possible return on investments. To accomplish this, advertisers rely on information collected by data firms, which sell the data to wanting customers.

Two of the leading firms that provide data to advertisers on Snapchat are TargetSmart, a Democrat-leaning organization, and i360, a Republican-leaning firm. Each company allows political organizations to purchase its data, but reserves such transactions for groups that share its partisan views.

But, according to Axios, a "slip up" on Snapchat recently gave multiple Democratic organizations access to i360 data.

Those organizations that benefited from the "slip up" include:

  • The Democratic National Committee
  • The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
  • The Planned Parenthood Action Fund
  • Democrat Stacey Abrams' gubernatorial campaign

The "accident" is significant. Possessing data on Republican voters would allow the Democratic organizations to specifically target users they believe might be open to persuasion.

Importantly, the "slip up" did not allow the organizations to access data on Snapchat users; it only gave authorized access to i360 data when Snapchat's internal protections to prevent unauthorized use of data failed.

What did Snapchat say?

A spokesperson for Snap Inc. blamed the issue on "an internal mistake" and minimized the significance of the problem.

"Unfortunately, due to an internal mistake, we didn’t follow this usual process — which resulted in these two companies' services being used by advertisers outside of the process, impacting a small number of ads," the spokesperson told Axios.

"We take full responsibility for this mistake, and as soon as we became aware of it, we took action to correct the issue, notified the two vendors, and are working to rectify payments to each of them," the spokesperson added. "We are also taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again."

Meanwhile, a representative for i360 said the company "did not authorize this use of its data, and its agreements with advertising platforms like Snap do not allow for the use of its political data by these organizations."

Snap Let Democratic Campaign Groups Scoop Up GOP Voter Data

Several prominent Democratic campaign groups accessed Republican voter data as a result of what Snap, the owner of Snapchat, called an unintentional data leak, allowing those groups to optimize midterm ads, Axios reported. While there was no evidence the data leak was intentional, GOP voter data from Republican-affiliated consulting firm i360 was accessed by the […]