Bill Will Force Big Tech to Earn CDA230 Immunity by Creating Safer Spaces Online for Children
Washington, DC (March 5, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation announced its support for the EARN IT “Eliminating Abusive & Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies” Act co-sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) that will establish a National Commission on Online Child Exploitation Prevention. This commission “will develop recommended best practices for providers of interactive computer services regarding the prevention of online child exploitation misconduct.”
“Right now, Big Tech has no incentive to prevent predators from grooming, recruiting, and trafficking children online and as a result countless children have fallen victim to child abusers on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok,” said Patrick A. Trueman, president and CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “EARN IT gives us these missing incentives by making the current gift of immunity under the Communications Decency Act Section 230 conditional. To keep immunity, social media platforms will have to demonstrate they are actively working to prevent online sexual exploitation of minors and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”
“EARN IT is the best piece of accountability in the tech space since the passage of FOSTA-SESTA in 2018, which makes it illegal for interactive computer services to knowingly facilitate sex trafficking. Congress has an overriding interest in protecting the safety of citizens from profound harm and EARN IT offers that much-needed protection.”