{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-durbin-reintroduce-bill-combatting-online-child-sexual-abuse-material/", "Hawley, Durbin Reintroduce Bill Combatting Online Child Sexual Abuse Material", "2025-05-21", "2025", "2025-05", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Today, U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced the STOP CSAM Act. The legislation will crack down on the proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online by allowing victims to sue companies that host it. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) have cosponsored the bill.\n\nThe Senators announced the legislation\u2019s reintroduction in February ahead of their joint hearing highlighting witnesses impacted by CSAM, including survivors, advocates, and law enforcement experts. They originally introduced the legislation last Congress and garnered the votes to unanimously advance it through the Senate Judiciary Committee.\n\n\u201cEvery day that Congress fails to protect kids online is another day that online predators can victimize children and steal their innocence\u2014and social media companies are totally complicit,\u201d said Senator Hawley. \u201cTo stop them, Congress must give parents and victims the right to sue these companies, and my bipartisan legislation would empower them to do just that.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the real world, child safety is a top priority. But in the virtual world, criminals and bullies don\u2019t need to pick a lock or wait outside the playground to cause harm. They can harass, intimidate, addict, or sexually exploit our kids without leaving home,\u201d said Senator Durbin. \u201cBig Tech has woefully failed to police itself, and the American people are demanding that Congress intervene. We made significant headway last year to address Big Tech\u2019s failure to protect our kids online and it\u2019s time to build on that progress. I\u2019m glad to partner with Senator Hawley to reintroduce our bill supporting victims of child sexual exploitation and increasing accountability for tech companies.\u201d\n\nSenator Hawley has been a leading proponent of holding Big Tech accountable and protecting kids online. Last year, he questioned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the rampant child exploitation on his social media platforms, prompting him to stand up and apologize to the families of victims in the room.\n\nSenator Hawley also introduced legislation to allow any private citizen to sue Big Tech platforms for hosting CSAM. After striking a deal with Senator Durbin to advance the CSAM legislation, the bipartisan bill was eventually blocked on the Senate floor.\n\nRead the full bill text here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:20:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-durbin-reintroduce-bill-combatting-online-child-sexual-abuse-material/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.750222709029913, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}