Ann Wagner and Sylvia Garcia Reintroduce EARN IT Act To Protect Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) released the following statement after they introduced the bipartisan and bicameral Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act.

This legislation will allow victims of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to hold online platforms accountable in both state and federal court for distributing images and videos of child sexual abuse; give state prosecutors the ability to enforce their child sexual abuse laws; enhance reporting to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline; and modernize language to ensure these crimes are referred to as child sexual abuse, rather than child pornography. Original Cosponsors of this legislation include Reps. Burgess Owens (R-UT), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), David Valadao (R-CA), Blake Moore (R-UT), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Jason Smith (R-MO), and Ken Calvert (R-CA).

Congresswoman Ann Wagner: "Last year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received over 32 million reports of online Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), currently referred to as ‘child pornography.’ 32 million reports of images and videos depicting the rape and sexual abuse of vulnerable children circulating freely online—it is absolutely unconscionable. This is an 89% increase from pre-pandemic levels, and it is long past time for Congress to take action to ensure the victims of this abuse can seek justice for their exploitation and trauma," said Congresswoman Ann Wagner. "That's why I am proud to have Congresswoman Garcia join me to introduce the EARN IT Act, a bipartisan and bicameral bill that will give victims the ability to hold online platforms accountable for facilitating the distribution and sale of these horrific images and videos of child sexual abuse. This is an ongoing and unacceptable crisis, and we must immediately pass this legislation to reverse these terrifying trends."

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia: "Ensuring the safety of children is one of my top priorities. I'm proud to reintroduce the bipartisan EARN IT Act, which aims to implement necessary precautions to prevent and respond to online child sexual abuse material," said Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia. "It is imperative to use the full extent of the law to hold accountable those who exploit children or violate laws related to child sexual abuse."

NCMEC: "NCMEC is proud to support the EARN IT Act, a bill that provides new remedies for children victimized by the distribution of child sexual abuse material and ensures that online platforms will be more diligent in reporting instances of child sexual abuse to NCMEC's CyberTipline," said Michelle DeLaune, the President and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "The EARN IT Act recognizes the significant impact of child sex trafficking and the enticement of children for sexual abuse and the need to ensure online platforms report these crimes to the CyberTipline. The bill also enables children who have been sexually exploited online, as well as State Attorneys General, to seek legal recourse against online platforms that engage in the distribution and circulation of sexually abusive images across the internet. Finally, the EARN IT Act replaces the term "child pornography" with "child sexual abuse material" throughout the criminal code to more accurately reflect what is depicted in these images - the rape and sexual abuse of children. NCMEC is proud to support this important legislation and thanks Representative Ann Wagner for her leadership and continued dedication to the safety of our children."

RAINN: "Child sexual abuse materials are images and videos of a brutal crime against a child. This isn't pornography, this is evidence — photographic proof of a child being raped," said Scott Berkowitz, president of RAINN, the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. "Thank you to Reps. Ann Wagner and Sylvia Garcia for leading the effort to incentivize technology companies to proactively remove, prevent, and block these materials from their platforms."

NCOSE: "Reports of online child sexual abuse have exploded exponentially while the largest technology companies continue to push a broad interpretation of Section 230 that would absolve them of knowingly facilitating these crimes against children. The EARN IT Act gives survivors of child sexual abuse material (child pornography) a path to justice by clarifying that they can bring civil claims against tech companies for knowingly facilitating child sexual abuse material, and a chance to recover their privacy," said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

Missouri Prosecutors: "Missouri Prosecutors strongly support the EARN IT Act. Those who promote and profit from the distribution of child sexual abuse material must be held accountable for these awful crimes," said Annie Gibson, President of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. "The EARN IT Act gives law enforcement and prosecutors the tools we need for this accountability. We appreciate Congresswoman Wagner for her leadership on this vital issue and urge Congress to act now."

Missouri Coalition Against Trafficking and Exploitation: "Rampant child sexual abuse and the distribution of abuse material has only increased since the formation of the internet and subsequently social media. Victims are further traumatized by the repeated humiliation and victimization that online platforms create space for. No corporation should be immune from being held accountable for the harm they cause," said Katie Rhoades, Executive Director of Healing Action and Member of the Missouri Coalition Against Trafficking and Exploitation (CATE). "Victims of online child sexual abuse have the right to hold accountable all who have facilitated their abuse. Furthermore, the term ‘child pornography’ can inaccurately and unfairly place blame on the child victim and obscure the true nature of the crime. Children who are exploited in the sex trade are coerced or forced into these situations. They are victims of sexual abuse, not consenting participants. By changing the language to ‘Child Sexual Abuse Material’ we can more accurately reflect the nature of the crime, which involves the production, distribution, and possession of visual depictions of children being sexually abused. This terminology emphasizes the harm done to the child victims and highlights the seriousness of the crime".

Crisis Aid International: "We can't overstate the importance of the EARN IT Act which puts in place measures to ensure that we are prioritizing the frighteningly expansive issue online child sexual abuse," said Cindy Malott, Director of US Safe Programs at Crisis Aid International. "Ensuring that survivors of child sexual abuse material can bring civil action in both state and federal court against online platforms for knowingly hosting or distributing CSAM is a moral right for victims. Of equal import is putting in place measures to enhance the NCMEC CyberTipline and the removal of traumatizing and victim blaming verbiage from federal statutes."

Youth Power Project: "At the Youth Power Project, we have provided peer-to-peer support to hundreds of survivors of child sexual abuse and those whose CSAM has been created or distributed through online platforms. Through our coalition's case work, I can confirm that navigating current procedures to report and take down content is incredibly complicated for even fully fledged adults to handle, let alone younger survivors who tend to be my age when they realize that the abuse has occurred," said Saanvi Arora of the Youth Power Project. "There are currently no legal incentives for platforms to take CSA or CSAM on their platforms seriously, enabling abusers to hide behind a digital curtain and material documenting the crime to permanently live on the internet and haunt survivors for the rest of their lives. The average age for survivors depicted in child sexual abuse material is between 6-8 years old— it should not be up to school children to respond to this crisis. The responsibility should be on the platforms and individuals that facilitate the abuse and continue to distribute child sexual abuse material without any accountability. For these reasons, the Youth Power Project is proud to support the EARN IT Act."

Survivor Statements of Support

"My abuser left a permanent digital footprint of years of my molestation, that I now have no means to combat. I’m 18 years old now, and everyday I wake up not knowing when someone new will text me that they’ve found a new source of explicit photos of me as a child," said Anastasia Chaglasian, a survivor of online sexual exploitation. "I’ve attempted to help take down thousands of files of CSAM throughout my time in high-school, and despite countless kids begging companies to take down heinous images of them as young as 7, there is currently no way to hold platforms accountable if they don't. Without the EARN IT Act, me and millions of other children will continue to have to live everyday knowing people can continue to find sexual gratification in content that we are being tortured in."

"Survivors stopped using the word ‘pornography’ to talk about our trauma years ago, and we've been waiting for the law to catch up since," said Amy, a survivor of child sexual abuse material. "The term CSAM calls this material what it really is: child sexual abuse."