Tampa Republic

Congresswoman Laurel Lee (R-FL) announced today that President Joe Biden has signed into law S. 474, the Revising Existing Procedures on Reporting via Technology (REPORT) Act. The legislation aims to combat the online exploitation of children by strengthening existing reporting procedures and obligating companies to report child sexual abuse crimes to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline.

The NCMEC's CyberTipline serves as a centralized reporting system for online child exploitation in the nation. It enables electronic communication service providers to report activities such as child sex trafficking, enticement of children for sexual acts, and unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child.

“The REPORT Act will help fight against the exploitation of children online," said Rep. Laurel Lee. "I am glad to see this crucial piece of legislation make its way to the President's desk and be signed into law."

The bill received bipartisan support from co-sponsors including U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and U.S. Representatives Susie Lee (D-NV-03), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-01), and Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04).

“Children are increasingly looking at screens, and the reality is that this leaves more innocent kids at risk of online exploitation,” said Senator Blackburn. “I’m honored to champion this bipartisan solution alongside Senator Ossoff and Representative Laurel Lee to protect vulnerable children and hold perpetrators of these heinous crimes accountable."

Congresswoman Susie Lee echoed these sentiments, highlighting Nevada's high rates of human trafficking involving children. She stressed the importance of swift justice for online child abuse, implementing advanced reporting technology, and increasing penalties for those who fail to report these crimes.

The REPORT Act introduces several key reforms to the CyberTipline, including adding child sex trafficking and enticement crimes to reporting obligations by websites and social media platforms, increasing penalties for failure to report exploitative content (with fines up to $850,000), requiring websites and social media platforms to report federal trafficking and enticement violations, and extending the time evidence submitted to the CyberTipline is preserved by websites and social media platforms. This will give law enforcement more time to investigate and prosecute.

The full text of the bill can be accessed here.