PASSED: Rep. Laurel Lee’s Bipartisan Bill to Help Stop the Online Exploitation of Children Passes House, Heads to President Biden’s Desk

Washington, D.C. –Today, Congresswoman Laurel Lee (R-FL) released the following statement after her bill, the Revising Existing Procedures on Reporting via Technology (REPORT) Act, unanimously passed the House of Representatives. This legislation now heads to President Biden’s desk.

“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,” said Rep. Laurel Lee. “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 has one of the highest rates of human trafficking in the nation, and a sickening number of those crimes involve children,” said Congresswoman Susie Lee. "Abuse of children online must be met with swift and complete justice. This includes implementing 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 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline is the nation’s centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children, allowing electronic communication service providers to make reports of activities such as child sex trafficking, enticement of children for sexual acts, and unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child.

Additional Co-Sponsors:

• U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
• U.S. Reps. Susie Lee (D-NV-03), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-01), and Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04).

The bipartisan bill would provide much-needed reforms to the CyberTipline, such as:

• 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.

Read the full text of the bill here.