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RCMP reminds Canadians about violent online groups targeting youth

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OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 27, 2024 /CNW/ – The RCMP National Security Program is working with the National Child Exploitation Crime Centre to protect youth from the threat of violent online groups.

These online groups have ties to known Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist (IMVE) entities and are targeting youth online with the intention of getting them to record or live-stream acts of self-harm, suicide, animal torture and/or produce child sexual abuse material. The footage is then circulated among online networks and used to further control and extort the young victims. In many cases, perpetrators are minors themselves. Victims may end up being encouraged or coerced into victimizing others.

Key motivators for members of these groups are to spread their ideology, gain notoriety, collect extreme violent online content, and rise in status within their groups.

They operate on publicly available platforms, including gaming platforms, social media sites and mobile applications that are popular with youth (Roblox, Discord, Minecraft, Twitch, Telegram, Steam, etc.). This type of offence usually starts with a direct message through gaming platforms and can move to more private chatrooms on other virtual platforms, typically one with video enabled features, where the conversation quickly becomes sexualized or violent.

One of the tactics being used by these actors is sextortion, however, they are not using it to extract money or for sexual gratification. Instead they use it to further manipulate and control victims to produce more harmful and violent content as part of their ideological objectives and radicalization pathway.

One IMVE group targeting children is commonly known as the 764 network (or “the com”) but goes by various monikers. Some of the largest sub-groups are known as: CVLT, Court, Kaskar, Harm Nation, Leak Society, 7997, 8884, 2992, 6996, 555, Slit Town, 545, 404, NMK, 303, and H3ll. 

There are many major crimes being committed by these groups. Most concerning is the sexual exploitation, harm inflicted on children and animals, and aim to get victims to commit suicide on camera.

Warning signs       

The following are some key indicators that your child could be the target of an IMVE group creating child sexual abuse and violent content online:

They are on the mobile application Discord, Telegram or other encrypted communications platforms and for which you have no visibility as a parent.They are receiving anonymous gifts, items delivered to your home, currency, gaming currency or other virtual items.They are demonstrating an interest or affinity to extreme messaging online, including conspiracy theories, anti-government rhetoric, or sympathy/support toward extreme messaging or online propaganda.They are demonstrating a newfound and abrupt interest in questioning or rejecting moral constraints on their behaviour, together with an interest in Nazism, school shootings, serial killers, or occultism.Family pets or other animals are being harmed or die suspiciously.You notice a family pet is uncharacteristically avoiding or fearful of your child or you.Writing in blood or what appears to be blood.They have a new online “friend” or network they seem infatuated with and/or scared of.They are covering their skin in unusual ways.They are going through more bandages, or showing evidence of cuts, carvings on their skin, stab wounds and more.They are more quiet than usual and uncharacteristically withdrawn.They are excessively moody and on edge.Their grades are dropping.They are spending more time on the internet, unsupervised or alone in their room.They are spending more money online or asking for money more often than usual.They are scrawling names and/or numbers in notebooks, diaries, loose papers.

Note: These indicators alone may not be significant, however when considering them in clusters or with the totality of circumstances, could have more meaning and reason for concern.

Help us take action

Canadian victims have come forward and there are likely more victims across the country.

We ask parents, guardians and adults in positions of authority to keep an eye out for indicators that a child or youth is being targeted or exploited and report the information to Cybertip.ca or your local police. If you believe someone is in immediate danger, please call 9-1-1.

Your report could be the missing piece to preventing more harm.

Related links

Canadian Centre for Child ProtectionNational Child Exploitation Crime CentrePublic Safety Canada

SOURCE Royal Canadian Mounted Police Media Relations and Issues Management

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SiriusXM Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

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NEW YORK, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.27 per share of common stock. This regular quarterly dividend is payable in cash on August 26, 2026, to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 10, 2026.

About Sirius XM Holdings Inc.
SiriusXM is the leading audio entertainment company in North America with a portfolio of audio businesses including its flagship subscription entertainment service SiriusXM; the ad-supported and premium music streaming services of Pandora; an expansive podcast network; and a suite of business and advertising solutions. Together, SiriusXM reaches a combined monthly audience of approximately 255 million listeners. SiriusXM offers a broad range of content for listeners everywhere they tune in with a diverse mix of live, on-demand, and curated programming across music, talk, news, and sports. For more about SiriusXM, please go to: www.siriusxm.com.

Source: SiriusXM

Investor contacts:
Jennifer DiGrazia
investor.relations@siriusxm.com 

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SOURCE Sirius XM Holdings Inc.

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Shutterstock Announces Capital Allocation Update

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NEW YORK, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK) (the “Company”), a family of brands delivering scalable creative and GenAI solutions to help customers fuel great work, today announced that at a meeting held on July 20, 2026 its Board of Directors (the “Board”) resolved to suspend the Company’s future quarterly cash dividend.

The Board’s determination reflects its ongoing review of the Company’s capital-allocation priorities and its focus on deploying capital to support long-term value creation for shareholders, including reducing debt, minimizing related interest expense and strengthening financial flexibility.

The Board will continue to evaluate the Company’s capital allocation priorities as part of its regular governance process. Any future declaration and payment of dividends, and the amount thereof, will remain subject to the discretion of the Board and will depend upon the Company’s results of operations, financial condition, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, applicable law, and such other factors as the Board deems relevant.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may discuss intentions and expectations as to future plans, trends, events, results of operations or financial condition, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and should not be relied upon as predictions of future events, as there can be no assurance that the events or circumstances reflected in these statements will occur. Forward-looking statements can often, but not always, be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology including “believes,” “could,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “ongoing,” “plans,” “seeks,” “should,” “will,”  or the negative of these words and phrases, other variations of these words and phrases or comparable terminology, but not all forward-looking statements include such identifying words. Forward-looking statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, among other things, the Company’s capital allocation strategy, the suspension of the Company’s quarterly cash dividend, the Company’s plans with respect to debt reduction, interest expense management and financial flexibility, and any future declaration and payment of dividends. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking statements, see the sections captioned “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While those factors are considered representative, no list of risk factors should be considered a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Unlisted factors may present significant additional obstacles to the realization of forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, and the Company disclaims any such obligation, except as may be required by law.

About Shutterstock
Shutterstock is in the business of turning ideas into impact. Powered by a global network of millions of creators and our cutting-edge technology, we provide businesses, creatives, and brand leaders with the essential, universal ingredients to make their work more effective. Shutterstock offers access to one of the world’s largest and most diverse collections of high-quality licensable assets, specialized training datasets, evaluation tools, and end-to-end strategic partnerships for the full model training lifecycle, as well as advertising and distribution solutions, exclusive editorial content, and full-service studio production—delivering unparalleled resources to fuel great work.

Discover our impact at www.shutterstock.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube.

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SOURCE Shutterstock, Inc.

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ICI Welcomes Bipartisan Sponsors of Bill to Stop States from Seizing Long-Term Investors’ Savings

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WASHINGTON, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Investment Company Institute released the following Viewpoints blog. To learn more about why this issue matters and how the SAFER Act would help protect American investors, watch our video on LinkedIn.

Millions of American investors have adopted the advice given by financial advisors to invest for the long term and then leave those savings alone. In some states, however, following this guidance can get your account seized. That was the warning sounded at an event featuring the sponsors of the bipartisan SAFER Act, Representatives Sam Liccardo (D-CA) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), who joined ICI leaders to make the case for a federal solution to the problem of state unclaimed property laws that can treat buy-and-hold investors as though they have disappeared. 

ICI President and CEO Eric Pan opened the event by outlining the nature of this growing threat. More than 128 million Americans invest in regulated funds, many with the intention of holding them for years, following the advice of many financial educators to “stay in the market, invest for the long term.” They put their money away and go about their lives, confident that the savings will be there when they need it. But under some states’ laws, an account that shows no activity can be declared abandoned and taken into state custody through a process called escheatment.

Pan walked through what seizure means in practice. When a state escheats an investment account, it typically liquidates the holdings — so even an investor who eventually recovers the money gets back only what the account was worth at seizure, with no credit for years of market gains. For retirement accounts, the forced liquidation can also trigger unforeseen tax consequences. And recovering the money at all can take years of paperwork and persistence. Meanwhile, some states are moving in the wrong direction, loosening their rules to make it easier to capture assets. 

“This is where the leadership of Congressmen Lawler and Liccardo is so important,” Pan said. “They’ve introduced the SAFER Act, a federal solution to a problem that exists across the United States. This patchwork of different legal standards, and the fact that the legal standards change constantly, creates a lot of confusion and creates this risk and harm that we’re so worried about.” 

In a panel discussion, the two lawmakers described the issue as an obvious place for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground, given Americans’ widespread use of investment accounts for saving.

“We are, for the most part, a group of Americans who sit on our investments, which is more or less the right strategy,” Liccardo said, noting that this is exactly the approach that inactivity standards put at risk. 

Liccardo pointed to the widely reported case of Walter Schramm, an investor who bought Amazon shares in the late 1990s and then did what many long-term investors do: leave the account be. Delaware deemed the account abandoned and liquidated the shares in 2008, when they worth about $8,000. By the time Schramm discovered what happened years later, the position would have been worth roughly $100,000.

The financial incentives driving state behavior are a concern, Liccardo noted. Unclaimed property has become one of Delaware’s largest sources of revenue, bringing in more than half a billion dollars a year — a powerful reason for states to loosen their standards rather than tighten them. 

Lawler contrasted legitimate unclaimed property programs and what some states are doing now. “It’s one thing to get an asset because it’s truly abandoned,” he said. “It’s another to basically target a group of investors who have a long-term strategy of just not touching the asset and being passive.”

The right standard, Lawler argued, is the obvious one: before seizing investment assets, a state should have to prove the owner is actually deceased. He posited that most Americans would be shocked to learn how little protection they have. “You think you have ownership of this asset, but the state, under current law, can just take it.”

The SAFER Act would establish federal guardrails ensuring that inactivity alone cannot be the basis for escheatment and that states confirm the death of an owner and that no estate or beneficiary has claimed the assets before escheating investment accounts. It would also require states to leave unclaimed investments in place, rather than liquidating them, until they can prove abandonment.

Both lawmakers said the path to fixing the problem is through public awareness of the threat some state laws pose to Americans financial security. “Ultimately the American people will rise up,” Liccardo said. “It may take a little while. We just have to get the information to them.”

Contact: media@ici.org 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ici-welcomes-bipartisan-sponsors-of-bill-to-stop-states-from-seizing-long-term-investors-savings-302832606.html

SOURCE Investment Company Institute

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