WASHINGTON, D.C., April 24, 2024 – The End Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children (OSEAC) Coalition, a group of organizations committed to advocacy to further policies that protect children online, calls on Congress to secure FY25 funding and pass legislation to enhance online child protection programs.
Stanford Internet Observatory released a report outlining the strengths and weaknesses of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline. Conclusions reported include difficulty among platforms in deciding what content to report and how to report it and wide variation in how platforms choose to work with law enforcement. Moreover, the report concluded there is a significant disparity in the resources allocated by platforms to address child sexual exploitation issues.
Following interviews with more than 60 law enforcement officers, researchers concluded that collaboration between Congress and other stakeholders (technology industry, NCMEC, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force) is critical to address the issues of reporting efficiency and capacity to respond to submissions.
“The Stanford Internet Observatory findings reinforce requests made by the End OSEAC Coalition to increase federal funding for critical online child safety programs,” said Coco Lammers, Director of the End OSEAC Coalition. “In addition to a larger appropriation for missing and exploited children programs, we urge Congress to pass meaningful legislation to strengthen CyberTipline reporting mechanisms.”
The End OSEAC Coalition supports multiple bipartisan bills currently awaiting action from Congress, all of which take steps to help stop the exploitation of kids online: EARN IT Act (S.1207 / H.R.2732), KOSA (S.1409), REPORT Act (S.474 / H.R.5082), SHIELD Act (S.412 / H.R.3686), and STOP CSAM Act (S.1199 / H.R.7949). Specifically, the REPORT Act and STOP CSAM aim to strengthen reporting mechanisms for online child protection harms, including for NCMEC and ICACs.
“The End OSEAC Survivors Council also urges Congress to increase funding and pass a package of online safety bills before the end of this session,” said Jajaira Overton, End OSEAC Survivors Council Chair. “It is critical to our children’s future and the well-being of our nation that this important work continues.”
About the End OSEAC Coalition
The End Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children (OSEAC) Coalition is a U.S. advocacy coalition that aims to improve U.S. government policies and programs to better prevent and address online sexual exploitation and abuse of children and provide appropriate support to survivors. Learn more about our mission to #ProtectKidsOnline: endoseac.org.
