Georgia Senator files bipartisan "child protection" bill, aims to hold tech companies accountable

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are teaming up to protect children from online sexual abuse, with the legislation looking to both strengthen systems in place to protect children online as well as hold tech companies accountable for certain materials on their sites.

The two senators’ REPORT Act passed the U.S. Senate, sending it to the U.S. House of Representatives for potential approval.

As written, the legislation would increase the strength and support of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s tip line to let it collect reports of online exploitation and would increase the amount of time evidence is held for review.

By doing so, the senators hope to allow law enforcement officers more time to investigate and prosecute child sexual exploitation crimes committed online.

Companion legislation in the House was sponsored by Reps. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) and Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) along with seven others.

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According to a statement from Ossoff’s office, the Revising Existing Procedures On Reporting via Technology Act is intended to hold companies accountable and remove harmful materials from the online world.

“My bipartisan bill will ensure tech companies are held accountable to report and remove child sex abuse material and to strengthen protection for kids online,” Ossoff said in a statement. “At a time of such division in Congress, we brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass this urgent legislation to protect kids on the internet.”

The bill would require websites and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter) and other sites to report crimes involving federal trafficking and enticement of children. Currently, this reporting measure is not required, according to Ossoff’s office.

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Companies that knowingly and willfully fail to report child sex abuse material on their sites would also face fines, according to Ossoff’s office.

The NCMEC reported there were more than 32 million reports filed to their cyber tipline last year. Of those reports, the vast majority were on platforms owned and operated by Facebook parent company Meta.

Between Meta’s online platforms Facebook (21 million), Instagram (5 million) and WhatsApp (1 million), the company’s sites accounted for roughly 27 million of the reported apparent child sexual abuse material that they become aware of on their systems, according to NCMEC.

While recently shuttered platform Omegle was on the list with a large number of reports, it only had roughly 608,000 instances in the list published by NCMEC.

“The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is proud to celebrate Senate passage of the Revising Existing Procedures on Reporting via Technology (REPORT) Act today. We thank Sen. Blackburn and Sen. Ossoff for their continued leadership on online child safety issues. The passage of the REPORT Act is a critical step in the right direction as we continue to combat the rise of online child sexual exploitation,” NCMEC President & CEO Michelle DeLaune said in part. “We look forward to continuing our work with Senator Blackburn and Senator Ossoff to ensure the safety of children online, and we encourage House Leadership to join the fight and bring the REPORT Act to the floor for a vote.”

Recent reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed sextortion schemes against children were up 700% in Georgia alone since 2021.

Speaking with Channel 2′s Tom Regan in November, the FBI said one of the most common ways this happens is with what they call a con, where someone’s private pictures are used to blackmail people for money by someone.

“After the picture is sent out, you typically get a message saying, well, now you’re going to pay me in a gift card or some sort of transaction, or we are going to send this photo to all of your friends on their own Instagram or Snapchat account,” FBI Atlanta Special Agent Thomas McAfee said.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Justice in June said the growth of online child sexual exploitation was outpacing the department’s ability to respond.

According to USDOJ, there are multiple, often-related, aspects of technology that create risk for children and opportunity for offenders, including:

• An uneven response to online child safety by the tech sector

• A CyberTipline system that is overwhelmed

• The anonymization of offenders

• Encryption of data storage and communications

• Online environments where children and adults interact without supervision or controls

• Globalized, often sovereignless, platforms

• Remote, often extraterritorial, storage

• A compounding lack of public awareness of these risks

Justice officials also said reporting by companies registered with the NCMEC cyber tipline was far below what was needed.

“While there are many technology companies committed to the protection of children online, data reveals a wildly divergent response by online providers to online child safety. According to NCMEC, in 2019 and 2020, over 1,400 companies were registered to use the CyberTipline,” USDOJ said.

However, the department said that “in 2019, only 148 companies (approximately 10% of registered companies) sent in CyberTips. The results in 2020 are barely any better, with 168 companies sending in CyberTips (approximately 12% of registered companies). Although the number of companies registered to submit reports to the CyberTipline increased in 2021, exceeding 1,800 companies, the response rate remained the same, as only 230 submitted any reports (approximately 12.8% of registered companies).”

Harkening back to the data submitted by NCMEC, the Justice Department said Meta companies accounted for between 92% to 95% of all cyber tips reported.

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