118th Congress Science, Technology, Communications
S. 823: END CSAM Act
Introduced
- Introduced (completed)
- Passed Senate (not reached)
- Passed House (not reached)
- To the President (not reached)
- Became law (not reached)
Summary
This bill makes it unlawful for social media companies to knowingly or recklessly host or distribute child sexual abuse material and subjects violators to civil penalties (ranging from $100,000 to $500,000). It also requires companies to establish a process for persons to notify companies of unlawful material and provides liability protections for companies that take down unlawful material.
The bill applies to companies that provide interactive computer services via web-based or mobile applications through which individuals create accounts to view, generate, or modify material that is viewable and sharable by others. The bill does not apply to companies that principally provide peer-to-peer messaging services.
A company must establish a process that a person may use to notify the company that it is hosting or distributing child sexual abuse material. As part of the process, a company must designate an agent to receive the notice.
Read the full summary
If a company receives a notice but determines the material is not unlawful, the company must, within 10 days, respond to the person who sent the notice and explain the rationale for its determination.
The bill provides liability protection for companies that take down material because they believe in good faith it is child sexual abuse material. However, the liability protection shall not apply if the company received a notice but failed to take the material down within 10 days.
The bill also allows persons to bring private lawsuits on behalf of the government to enforce the bill. The person who brings the lawsuit may recover some of the civil penalties.
Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Roll calls
No roll call votes have been held on this bill.
Amendments
No amendments were offered to this bill.
Who scored on this bill
No member has earned points from it yet.
See all scorers and every scoring event
Introductions and cosponsorships count toward weekly caps and show no points.
Other bills by Joshua Hawley
- S. 5163: No Bonuses for Bad Service Act
- S. 3062: GUARD Act
- S. 2169: Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act
- S. 3490: National Historical Park and National Historic Landmark Establishment and Boundary Adjustments Act of 2025
- S. 1498: Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act
- S. 1829: STOP CSAM Act of 2025
History
- Introduced in the Senate by Joshua Hawley.
Show the full action history (2 actions)
- Introduced in Senate
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.