Durbin Calls On Senate To Take Action On Bipartisan Bills Protecting Child Safety Online, Including His STOP CSAM Act

Floor Speech

"A few weeks ago, regulations enacted in the European Union went into effect that cover more than a dozen of the world's biggest tech platforms. This includes online marketplaces, app stores, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram … This shows that Big Tech can be regulated. It is possible to craft rules to protect our families without breaking the miracle of the internet. In contrast to what's happening in Europe, here in the United States, Congress has failed to regulate tech.

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Let me tell you about one young man named Cornell Johnson. He is from Illinois. He is a man who preyed on 17 victims, ranging in age from four to 17 years old, located across eight states. His tool of choice: Facebook. Johnson would set up profiles claiming to be a woman and then use these Facebook profiles to contact girls all over the country. First, he would entice these girls to send him sexually suggestive images of themselves in various stages of undress. Then he would use these images to coerce the victims into sending him sexually explicit content.

He was prosecuted and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Johnson was held accountable for his conduct. But what about Facebook? Johnson could not have committed his crimes without the social media platform. He could not have sexually exploited those 17 children in eight states. Yet our current law, as written, shields Facebook from any accountability for the role they played in making Johnson's crimes possible.

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I believe that we can live in a world where user privacy and child safety can coexist. And I believe that I have written a bill that does just that. My STOP CSAM Act will end Big Tech's free ride and give victims a way to hold these companies accountable for their failure to stop online child sexual exploitation--and, in some cases, for their actions that make it worse.

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Importantly, the bill achieves this goal in a manner that will avoid any unintended impact on technology that protects privacy. The STOP CSAM Act is the product of extensive consultations with stakeholders. It passed out of the Judiciary Committee, which I chair, unanimously. Every Democrat, every Republican supported it. And, I'm working to bring it to the floor. The Senate must act. Our failure to do so will preserve the status quo, where our children are being sexually exploited online every day."

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