Rep. Ann Wagner
U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) last week introduced the Child Online Safety Modernization Act, H.R. 5182, to enhance efforts in reporting child exploitation and child sex trafficking.
H.R. 5182 would improve and modernize the CyberTipline, the national clearinghouse for online platforms to report child sexual exploitation on the internet. It is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a congressionally-mandated nonprofit organization.
“In 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 32 million reports of online child sexual abuse material, sometimes called ‘child pornography.’ That’s equal to approximately 87,600 reports per day of images and videos of children being sexually exploited,” Rep. Wagner said. “My legislation, the Child Online Safety Modernization Act, will advance common-sense, bipartisan, and bicameral solutions to help law enforcement investigate these cases, rescue vulnerable children, and apprehend online predators.”
Rep. Wagner introduced the bill on Aug. 8 along with original cosponsors that included U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) and U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE).
Currently, there are no legal requirements regarding what online platforms must include in a CyberTipline report, according to a one-page summary of the bill. Due to this legal gap, platforms do not consistently report substantive and actionable information in their reports—leaving NCMEC and law enforcement often unable to locate and rescue the child. More than 50 percent of the 32 million reports submitted to NCMEC in 2022 lacked so much information that the report could not be investigated by law enforcement, the summary continued.
According to a bill summary provided by Rep. Wagner’s office, H.R. 5182 would extend the required preservation of NCMEC CyberTipline reports from 90 days to one year and modernize the CyberTipline by:
- Requiring reports from online platforms to include information to help law enforcement identify and locate the child depicted in CSAM as well as the individuals involved in posting the imagery,
- Requiring online platforms to report instances of child sex trafficking and the sexual enticement of a child, and
- Allowing NCMEC to share technical identifiers associated with CSAM to nonprofits for the sole and exclusive purpose of preventing and curtailing online sexual exploitation.
“Additionally, this bill will make it clear that images and videos of children being raped is not ‘pornography,’ it is sexual abuse of a child,” Rep. Wagner said. “America cannot, and should not, accept a reality where innocent children are sexually exploited for financial gain. Congress must do everything in its power to end this scourge against humanity, and my legislation will help protect innocent victims from some of the most destructive criminals in our society.”
Since 2018, NCMEC has seen a 567 percent increase in sexual enticement of a child due to the current lack of reporting requirements, the bill summary stated.
“It is troubling and heartbreaking to see the rise of child sexual exploitation on the internet and we must do everything we can to save these children by supporting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as fully as we can,” said Rep. Bacon. “By requiring reports from online platforms to provide more information to help law enforcement identify and locate the child victim and the individual who posted the image, we can save more children from a life of sexual trauma.”
H.R. 5182 has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.