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Emerging Policy Issues

  • Supreme Court decision brings age assurance clarity (U.S.)

    June 27, 2025

     

    The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, a case challenging a Texas law that requires pornography websites to use age verification measures to prevent minors from accessing harmful content. The Court upheld the Texas law, likely paving the way for similar legislation already enacted or under consideration in more than 20 other states.

     

    While other non-U.S. jurisdictions—such as the U.K. and France—had already adopted similar age verification mandates for pornography platforms, this ruling is significant in the U.S. because of vigorous debates about where age assurance responsibility should be assigned. Online platforms (e.g., Meta, Match Group, Pornhub) and app distribution services (e.g., Apple, Google) have each asserted that the other should bear age assurance responsibility. Various laws imposing requirements exclusively on platforms or app store operators have emerged, both within the U.S. and beyond (Singapore has enacted what is believed to be the first national-level age assurance mandate for app distribution services).  

     

    NCMEC takes the position that age assurance should be a shared responsibility, not exclusively assigned to either online platforms or app distribution services. Implementation across the connected ecosystem will best address gaps associated with shared devices, children accessing adults’ accounts, school-issued devices, web browser access to avoid platforms’ apps, etc. A more detailed position statement from NCMEC will be published on the Global Platform for Child Exploitation Policy in the coming weeks.

  • Recast directive on child sexual abuse (EU)

    June 17, 2025

     

    The European Parliament voted to adopt a position supporting a revision to the EU’s Child Sexual Abuse Directive. The proposed changes include increasing criminal penalties, eliminating statutes of limitations, criminalizing the use of AI to commit child sexual abuse offenses, and providing support services to victims at no cost.

     

    NCMEC will continue to monitor the progress of this directive, which will now be subject to negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

     

    https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2025/772904/EPRS_ATA(2025)772904_EN.pdf

  • Final draft industry codes (Australia)

    May 21, 2025

     

    Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has received the final draft of industry codes intended to protect children from certain harmful content online. eSafety will evaluate the codes for compliance with the Online Safety Act before deciding whether to accept and register them, at which point they will come into effect. If the codes are rejected as insufficient, eSafety may then impose mandatory standards that do comply with the Online Safety Act.

     

    Australia’s eSafety model serves as an example of how other jurisdictions may approach regulation of online platforms to ensure online safety for children. The effects of eSafety’s work may also impact populations beyond Australia.

  • TAKE IT DOWN Act (U.S.)

    May 19, 2025

     

    The TAKE IT DOWN Act (S.146), which NCMEC and other child protection advocates supported, has been signed into law in the U.S. The new law prohibits online publication of, and threats to publish, intimate visual depictions of a minor—including both “authentic” depictions and “digital forgeries” that are not already covered by CSAM laws—to abuse or harass the minor, or to sexually arouse any person.

     

    The law also requires online platforms to remove such images or videos, including those created using artificial intelligence, within 48 hours of receiving a request from a person depicted in the imagery.

     

    This report-and-remove requirement is important to empowering victims and compelling online platforms to remove harmful content. The TAKE IT DOWN Act is also one of the first U.S. laws to specifically address harms associated with generative artificial intelligence.

     

    The law is distinct from NCMEC’s Take It Down service, which helps users remove online intimate images depicting them before they were 18 years old. That service is available in more than 30 languages.

  • REPORT Act’s First Anniversary (U.S.)

    May 7, 2025

     

    On May 7, 2024, the REPORT Act was signed into law in the U.S., marking a significant advancement in the fight against online child sexual exploitation. Among other modifications, the REPORT Act requires online platforms to report online enticement and child sex trafficking to the CyberTipline for the first time and requires platforms to maintain material relating to a CyberTipline report for up to one year. The law is already making a major impact.

     

    Online enticement reports to NCMEC’s CyberTipline rose from a monthly average of 42,230 in the last 6 months of 2024 to a monthly average of 69,636 for the first 4 months of 2025.

     

    Child sex trafficking reports received by NCMEC’s CyberTipline in the first 3 months of 2025 exceeded the total child sex trafficking reports received in all of 2024.

     

    See NCMEC’s REPORT Act guidance for more information.

Videos

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U.S. Congress: "Protecting Our Children Online"
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U.S. Congress: "Addressing Real Harm Done by Deepfakes"
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