Supporters of legislation to impose greater liability on online platforms for hosting child sexual abuse material plan to push the stalled bill during the lame-duck session after lawmakers return from midterm elections.
The Strengthening Transparency and Obligations to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (STOP CSAM) Act is sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., with Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., as a lead co-sponsor. The measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously in June 2025.
The bill would impose penalties on social media and technology companies that fail to report platform uses violating child exploitation policies. It includes a private right of action allowing individual victims to sue platforms if the platform promoted or facilitated abuse.
The bill appears in a proposed manager's amendment to the annual defense policy bill in the Senate but not in the House-passed version. Over 100 organizations combatting child exploitation and human trafficking called on House and Senate leadership to retain the provision in the National Defense Authorization Act.
"By opening the courthouse doors, not only will survivors receive justice through judgments, but companies that are complicit will finally change their behavior," the letter stated.
Nate King, director of U.S. congressional affairs for the International Justice Mission, said the bill faces opposition from the technology industry's "powerful lobby." Google and Meta listed the bill as a subject of lobbying efforts in third-quarter 2026 reports, though they did not specify positions.
Civil liberties and privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Electronic Frontier Foundation, raised concerns in a June 2025 letter, arguing the broad liability could push platforms to abandon end-to-end encryption, reducing privacy for all users.