Sweetie (internet avatar)

In 2013, the Dutch branch of Terre des hommes, noting that efforts to combat child sex tourism in impoverished countries had resulted in pedophiles instead seeking victims online,[1] joined forces with local advertising agency Lemz that at first preferred to remain anonymous[2] to create the animated, photorealistic image of a 10-year-old Filipina girl.

A 'puppeteer' for Sweetie would enter a chat room, claiming to be a ten-year-old Philippine girl. Sexual predators would open webcam connections with 'her', during which programmers would animate Sweetie as necessary in real time through motion capture.[3] As the dialogue between Sweetie and the predator progressed, the predator would make a $20 wire transfer and provide his Skype address. Once this information was gathered, the chat with Sweetie would be shut down, and the information was given to the local police or Interpol.[4]

Sweetie operated for ten weeks,[5] during which over 1000 predators in 71 countries gave Sweetie enough information for them to be identified.[4]

After receiving a letter from the United Nations, the team of the advertising agency Lemz admitted that they were behind this initiative.[6] Strategy director of Lemz Mark Woerde gave one public interview to the TV show Humberto Tan’s RTL Late Night to explain the intervention and to make clear, for security reasons, that they were no longer involved in Terre des Hommes, Sweetie or police activities.[7]

Sweetie has now been retired, and "will not be used again".[8]

The first arrest resulting from Sweetie-gleaned information occurred in Brisbane, Australia, in February 2014;[2] however, Troels Ørting Jørgensen of the European Cybercrime Centre has expressed concerns that judges may consider Sweetie to have been entrapment, and thereby rule inadmissible any data ultimately sourced to Sweetie.[2]

• Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
• Internet Safety Act
• Creep Catchers
• Negobot