Rep. Ann Wagner
U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) on Feb. 1 offered a bipartisan bill that would establish a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention to give survivors and law enforcement the ability to take legal action against websites that sell or distribute illegal images and videos.
“Victims of online child sexual abuse and exploitation endure unfathomable trauma,” Rep. Wagner said. “It is long past time for Congress to support these survivors and to confront the websites monetizing child abuse.”
The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act of 2022, H.R. 6544, which Rep. Wagner cosponsored with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), would task the new commission with developing best practices to be implemented by providers of interactive computer services to prevent, reduce, and respond to the online sexual exploitation of children.
Such exploitation includes the enticement, grooming, sex trafficking, and sexual abuse of children and the proliferation of online child sexual abuse material, according to the text of the bill.
“There is nothing more horrific than the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Predators are targeting young girls and boys in our community and across the country at unprecedented rates, and explicit images and videos of these underage children are bought, sold, and distributed over the internet every day,” said Rep. Wagner. “I will not stand idly by while websites that facilitate this criminal behavior evade accountability.”
H.R. 6544, which is the companion bill to the bipartisan U.S. Senate version, S. 3538, introduced on Jan. 31 by U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), also would enable online companies to be held civilly liable and subject to state prosecution if they violate child sexual abuse laws, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Wagner’s office.
Additionally, the bill would improve reporting to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline and update language to refer to child pornography as child sexual abuse, the summary says.
NCMEC and the International Justice Mission’s Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children are among the 378 organizations supporting the bill.