Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL) has introducing the Senate companion bill to Representative Laurel Lee's (R-FL) Combating Online Predators Act, which passed the House of Representatives in December.
As The Floridian recently covered, the Combating Online Predators Act strengthens federal law by explicitly criminalizing threats to distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as sextortion.
According to Sen. Moody's press release, a unified federal standard for punishing such a crime does not currently exist, and thus, the bill closes this important loophole.
"As parents of the first generation of online kids, it is important we protect them from the new threats they may face," Sen. Moody stated, adding, "My Combating Online Predators Act will ensure the monsters who engage in sextortion against our children are put behind bars. Congress needs to get off the sidelines and keep our kids safe, and I won't stop until every perpetrator of this heinous crime is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Stranger danger is happening under your own roof – let's pass my commonsense legislation and end this once and for all."
Similarly, Rep. Lee said, "Sextortion is a devastating crime that preys on fear, shame, and vulnerability—especially among children."
"When predators threaten to distribute explicit images of minors, the harm is real and often irreversible," Rep. Lee continued, adding, "Congress has a duty to ensure our laws keep pace with the tactics used by online predators, and this legislation closes a critical gap to protect children and deliver justice for victims."
The introduction of Moody's Senate version of the Combating Online Predators Act comes on the heels of Lee's introduction of the DEFIANCE Act, which allows victims of "deepfakes" to take legal action against producers, distributors, and solicitors of these images and videos and builds off of the 2025 TAKE IT DOWN Act.
