Today, Senator Graham (R-SC) introduced the EARN IT Act, intended to combat child exploitation online. The bill creates a commission for defining best practices for online platforms with respect to child sexual abuse materials, and alters the liability scheme of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for those platforms that do not comply with those best practices.

The following may be attributed to Daisy Soderberg-Rivkin, resident fellow for children and technology policy at the R Street Institute:

“While, in theory, ending child exploitation is a noble goal, the bill fails to consider the consequences of its proposed actions and its efficiency. The EARN IT Act, as it is currently written, will not effectively change the status of child sexual abuse material online. Instead, it will open children up to a whole set of online dangers, all while allowing bad actors to continue their work.”

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