Late last year, Florida Rep.Laurel Lee (R) introduced the Revising Existing Procedures On Reporting via Technology (REPORT) Act. The bill would help end the online exploitation of children. This week, Rep. Lee announced that the House had unanimously passed the bill, and it now heads to President Joe Biden’s (D) desk for approval.
The bipartisan bill provides numerous reforms to the CyberTipline, the nation’s centralized reporting system for online exploitation of children, which allows electronic communication service providers to create reports of activities including child sex trafficking, enticement of children for sexual acts, and unsolicited obscene materials that are sent to a child.
In a statement celebrating the passage of the REPORT Act, Rep. Lee shared that “the REPORT Act will help fight against the exploitation of children online by strengthening existing reporting procedures and requiring companies to disclose crimes involving child sexual abuse to NCMEC.”
“I applaud both the House and Senate for passing this crucial legislation that will help law enforcement quickly identify and prosecute perpetrators to protect our children from threats online.”
Nevada Rep. Susie Lee (D) also celebrated the passing of the bill, commenting that “abuse of children online must be met with swift and complete Judges.” To protect children, Rep. Lee called on lawmakers to implement “the most state-of-the-art reporting technology, requiring Big Tech to report all instances of child abuse, and increasing penalties for those who fail to report these crimes against children."
"I’m proud to work with Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate to lead this legislation to protect our children, crack down on human trafficking, and hold those accountable who turn a blind eye to these sickening crimes.”
The REPORT Act further provides reforms to the CyberTipline, including:
- Adding sex trafficking of children and enticement crimes to reporting obligations by websites and social media platforms.
- Increasing penalties for failure to report exploitative content (fines up to $850,000).
- Requires websites and social media platforms to report violations of federal trafficking and enticement.
- Increases the time evidence that has been submitted to the CyberTipline is preserved by websites and social media platforms to give law enforcement more time to investigate and prosecute.
