To establish a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The EARN IT Act of 2023 creates a 19-member National Commission to develop voluntary best practices for tech platforms to prevent online child sexual exploitation. It amends Section 230 of the Communications Act to allow civil and criminal liability for platforms that knowingly facilitate child sexual abuse material, while protecting end-to-end encryption. It also modernizes the CyberTipline reporting system and updates federal law to use the term child sexual abuse material instead of child pornography.
Who Benefits and How
Child victims of online sexual exploitation benefit through stronger legal tools for pursuing civil claims against platforms and improved CyberTipline reporting. Law enforcement agencies benefit from modernized reporting infrastructure, better data for identifying victims, and dedicated IT solutions funding of at least 1 million dollars annually. Prosecutors gain new ability to bring state-level charges against platforms for CSAM violations.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Interactive computer service providers (tech platforms) face new potential civil and criminal liability for child sexual abuse material on their platforms, must invest in compliance with recommended best practices, and must improve CyberTipline report formatting and content preservation. Platforms must balance these requirements while the bill explicitly protects their right to use end-to-end encryption.
Key Provisions
- Creates 19-member bipartisan National Commission to develop voluntary best practices for preventing online child exploitation
- Amends Section 230 to remove immunity shield for CSAM-related civil and criminal claims while protecting encryption
- Modernizes CyberTipline to require better victim-identifying information and extends content preservation from 90 days to 1 year
- Authorizes at least 1 million dollars annually for IT solutions to combat online child exploitation
- Replaces term child pornography with child sexual abuse material across federal statutes
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention to develop best practices for interactive computer services, modifies Section 230 immunity to allow state and federal claims related to child sexual abuse material, and modernizes the CyberTipline reporting system.
Key Policy Areas
Technology Regulation, Child Safety, Criminal Justice
Primary Purpose
Establishes a National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention to develop best practices for interactive computer services, modifies Section 230 immunity to allow state and federal claims related to child sexual abuse material, and modernizes the CyberTipline reporting system.
Policy Domains
EARN IT Act of 2023
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Child victims of online sexual exploitation
- Law enforcement agencies (ICAC task forces, FBI, DHS)
- State attorneys general and prosecutors
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Interactive computer service providers (tech platforms)
- Federal agencies administering the commission
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedReported by Mr. Durbin, with amendments
Mr. Graham (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Durbin, …
Mr. Graham (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Durbin, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Encryption technology providers, IT solutions vendors for law enforcement, Interactive computer service providers (tech platforms)
Positive-direction: Encryption technology providers, IT solutions vendors for law enforcement
Negative-direction: Interactive computer service providers (tech platforms)
Federal government, Federal government (DOJ, DHS, FTC), Law enforcement agencies
Positive-direction: Law enforcement agencies, Law enforcement agencies (ICAC task forces)
Negative-direction: Federal government, Federal government (DOJ, DHS, FTC)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of OJJDP (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)
- "the_attorney_general"
- → Attorney General of the United States
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Has the meaning given in section 230(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934
The National Commission on Online Child Sexual Exploitation Prevention
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology