219 Organizations, 64 Survivor Leaders Urge Congress to Pass EARN IT Act

WASHINGTON, DC (May 25, 2023) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and 218 organizations representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia plus 64 survivor leaders have sent a letter to Congress urging passage of the EARN IT Act.

The letter, in part, states: “CSAM (child sexual abuse material) is documentation of a crime. Victims suffer gross physical and psychological harm at the hands of offenders and continue to suffer as their abuse is endlessly shared and circulated online. It is time to confront and restrict rampant sexual abuse occurring on digital platforms.

“The EARN IT Act repeals near blanket immunity from liability enjoyed by interactive computer service, or digital, companies under judicial interpretations of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Victims will finally have access to justice because EARN IT will allow them to use federal civil and state criminal and civil law to seek redress for harm suffered by digital negligence.

“Despite federal law requiring that NCMEC be alerted regarding CSAM, some of the biggest tech giants ignore this obligation. Bottom line: content moderation resources will never be enough to eliminate the illegal and harmful activity facilitated by digital platforms. For this reason, Congress needs to instill protections that will keep our children and others from being exploited in exchange for advertising profits.

“Big Tech’s lobbyists insist the EARN IT Act undermines privacy, free speech, and human rights. On the contrary: EARN IT allows victims the possibility of restoring their privacy, recognizes CSAM as a serious crime, and protects the rights of children online. Liability is a bedrock principle in American law that should apply to digital platforms as it does to other marketplace actors.”

In 2022, over 32 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation were reported to NCMEC’s CyberTipline.

The full letter can be viewed here: https://endsexualexploitation.org/wp-content/uploads/EARN-IT-Act-2023-Letter-of-Support.pdf.

About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)  
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.