Florida Congresswoman Laurel Lee’s (R) Combating Online Predators Act has passed the Republican House Judiciary Committee and is headed for the House floor for debate.
The Combating Online Predators Act strengthens federal law by explicitly criminalizing threats to distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as sextortion.
“This legislation closes a dangerous loophole in federal law by explicitly criminalizing sextortion, a tactic predators use to threaten the distribution of child sexual abuse material to exploit minors,” Lee shared in a post on X. “Congress has a responsibility to keep our laws aligned with the realities children face online and to ensure law enforcement has the tools needed to hold predators fully accountable.”
Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation in which predators threaten to distribute private or sensitive images unless victims comply with demands for additional sexual content, sexual favors, or money.
Lee asserts that predators especially target children and teens and that current sextortion laws fail to explicitly cover threats to distribute such material, allowing offenders to evade accountability even when they cause clear harm.
“Sextortion is a devastating crime that preys on fear, shame, and vulnerability—especially among children," Lee said in a press release. When predators threaten to distribute explicit images of minors, the harm is real and often irreversible. Congress has a duty to ensure our laws keep pace with the tactics used by online predators.”
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), reports have shown a dramatic rise in financial sextortion cases in 2023, with 26,718 reports, up from 10,731 in 2022.
The FBI has also made a clear warning of a sharp rise in sextortion schemes targeting minors, particularly teenage boys.
A sextortion scam previously targeted a 15-year-old boy in West Virginia, who later died by suicide, underscoring the urgent need for action.
