Hawley, Durbin, New Mexico Attorney General Demand Action to Protect Children Online

Hawley, Durbin, New Mexico Attorney General Demand Action to Protect Children Online

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez stood alongside child safety advocates to demand that Congress take decisive action to protect America's children online by passing critical bipartisan legislation, including Hawley's and Durbin's STOP CSAM Act. The legislation would crack down on the proliferation of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) by allowing victims to sue companies that host it. The STOP CSAM Act advanced out of committee unanimously.

Today's press conference comes after a jury in New Mexico found that Meta misled users about the safety of its platforms and enabled sexual exploitation of young users and another jury in California found that Meta and Google negligently designed their platforms to be addictive to young users. These two bellwether cases are the first of many court proceedings at both the state and federal levels, but it remains critical that Congress pass federal legislation to hold social media companies accountable.

Senator Hawley said, "No amount of profit by the Big Tech companies justifies destroying the lives of America's children. I don't care how much money they give to their shareholders. It doesn't justify destroying the lives, the futures, the hopes, and the dreams of our children. Big Tech's profits are coming from the exploitation of children. And what we're saying today is we've had enough."

"Big Tech will not reform on its own. It has shown time and again that if given the choice, it will choose profits over people. But the dam is breaking. Lawsuits like those in New Mexico and California will keep on coming," Senator Durbin said. "If Big Tech companies are forced to face accountability and liability for the harm they do, they will change their behavior. Congress has to do its part to make that happen."

"New Mexico has led the fight to hold Big Tech accountable, and we are not slowing down," said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. "But states cannot do this alone. We need Congress to pass KOSA with a real duty of care, and sunset the outdated legal immunity that has allowed these companies to profit from the exploitation of children with no consequences. The time for half measures is over."

Watch the full press conference here.

Issues