Grassley joins Sens. Graham, Blumenthal to reintroduce EARN IT Act fighting online child sex abuse

GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley, of Ohio, and Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, have joined Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal to reintroduce a bipartisan bill to encourage the tech industry to take further action to prevent the exploitation of children online.

The Elimination Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (EARN IT), would remove blanket immunity for violations of laws related to online materials pertaining to child sexual abuse. 

"Online service providers have long acknowledged their responsibility to enforce user policies and moderate certain content, but many have not done enough to combat child predators who use these platforms to exploit and victimize children,"

Grassley said. "This bill would ensure that online service providers that fail to crack down on such content are not able to escape consequence by hiding behind Section 230 immunity."

Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also said the bill received unanimous bipartisan support from the panel in July 2020.

"It's time we get it on the books to help prevent future child exploitation online," he said.

The legislation would create a national commission to prevent child sexual exploitation online that would be comprised of the directors of the Federal Trade Commission, the departments of Justice and Homeland Security and 16 additional members appointed by congressional leadership. It also, if passed and signed into law,  would provide tools for survivors of online child sexual abuse and help them fight for civil recourse. 

The bill also has broad support among survivor groups and stakeholders, in addition to backing from a bipartisan group of more than a dozen senators.