Washington, Jan 24, 2026
Driven by social media, encrypted services, and emerging Artificial Intelligence tools, online child sexual exploitation is expanding fast, lawmakers and child-safety experts have told members of the US Congress.
“Protecting our children from online exploitation and abuse is one issue that unites all of us: Democrats, Republicans, parents, grandparents, and everyone in between,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, who chaired the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation.
Ranking Member Shontel Brown said the volume and speed of distribution have changed the threat. Brown said, “These horrifying photos, videos, and records often referred to as CSAM, have dramatically increased as technology and the Internet have made it easier to share them faster and with more people.”
Stefan Turkheimer, vice president of public policy at RAINN, said the crisis is being reported directly to the National Sexual Assault Hotline. Turkheimer said, “Nearly half a million Americans reached out to the hotline last year.” Since the pandemic began, he said, “calls from children have exploded.” Turkheimer said, “68 per cent of calls to the hotline are about child sexual abuse.”
Turkheimer said, “I’m here today because we face an urgent crisis at the intersection of technology and child safety.” He cited reporting to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, saying, “The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received over 32 million reports of suspected child sexual abuse materials in 2023, and that number will increase exponentially year after year.”
Brad Russ, executive director of the National Criminal Justice Training Center, said Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces are being swamped by leads. Russ said, “The number of cyber tips last year disseminated to the task forces was 675,000.” He called the workload “an overwhelming challenge.”
Russ said, “What they tell me is that they’re drowning right now.” He told lawmakers, “Out of 71,000 investigative leads, only 500 were being actively investigated.”
Russ said, “The task force members basically turn over at a rate of 25 per cent a year because this is some of the most difficult work you can do.” He added, “The funding has remained relatively the same since 2008 for the task forces at just over $30 million.”
The discussion also focussed on how offenders move minors between platforms. Turkheimer said, “One of the goals of a person of an offender in that position is to remove the child from the relatively safe space of Roblox and take them to a place like Telegram.”
On accountability, Turkheimer said, “Without any liability, they don’t have an economic incentive to prioritize safety.”
Mace, citing cases in her Colorado district, warned: “Every day that passes without urgent intervention, more children are at risk for exploitation, sextortion, extortion, grooming and trauma that can have lifelong consequences.” Turkheimer said, “I just want to close by saying that safety is possible.”
The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program was created in 1998 as a US Justice Department-backed network to coordinate state and local investigations into online child exploitation, with federally funded task forces supporting thousands of participating agencies.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) operates the CyberTipline, a national reporting mechanism for suspected online child sexual exploitation. Under US federal law, online service providers must report apparent CSAM to NCMEC.(Agency)
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