EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow on Thursday unveiled a renewed international effort to combat online child exploitation, bringing together government officials, law enforcement leaders and anti-human trafficking advocates like Tebow’s foundation to strengthen cooperation against predators operating across borders.
Following the event, Waltz and Tebow answered questions exclusively from Fox News Digital, with Tebow warning parents that the threat isn’t confined to distant countries or dark corners of the internet.
“It’s happening in their backyard,” Tebow told Fox News Digital when asked what would shock American parents most about child exploitation today.
The event put a spotlight on how the U.S. is teaming up with countries around the world to rescue exploited children, crack down on human trafficking networks and prosecute child predators. Officials also pointed to recent international operations, new funding from Congress and a U.S.-led U.N. resolution targeting online sextortion.
“The United States is leading the charge to combat child exploitation in partnership with civil society groups like the Tim Tebow Foundation,” Waltz said during the event. “Child exploitation criminals operate across borders, so a global response is critical. We need to work together to protect our children from predators.”
Tebow said the danger facing children online is something parents should think about every day.
“If it’s unprotected, it’s similar to dropping them off at a playground knowing that pedophiles are circling that playground,” he told Fox News Digital. “You would never do it.”
He urged parents to take advantage of online safety tools and remain engaged with their children’s digital activity, saying predators are constantly searching for opportunities to exploit young victims.
“There are so many predators online that are looking for a vulnerability and an access to a boy or girl so that they can exploit, so that they can lure, so they can groom, so that they can sextort,” Tebow said. “I really believe it’s one of the worst evils in the world.”
During the event, Tebow stressed that child exploitation requires international cooperation.
“Child exploitation requires a response as global as the threat itself,” he said. “Right now, children around the world are being harmed, and we cannot look away. No child should be invisible, and no predator should be able to hide.”
Asked by Fox News Digital whether so
