P.A.X.A. PRIORITY:

Holding Big Tech Accountable for Online Safety

The Situation: Big Tech companies and social media platforms are not being held accountable for the dangers they present to children that lead to Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) distribution.

In partnership with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (N.C.O.S.E.), P.A.X.A. is involved with legislation that supports keeping children safe when using platforms on devices and online. The EARN IT Act is a step toward a legal ecosystem that makes more sense for our modern context and a means for holding Big Tech accountable for harms they facilitate.

About the The Earn It Act (Federal)

EARN IT Act is legislation that seeks to allow U.S. citizens to hold technology companies accountable if they aid and abet the distribution and/or consumption of child sexual abuse material. The technology industry is balking at the EARN IT Act because they like the blanket legal immunity that U.S. laws currently provide them which enable them to make money with impunity.

The EARN IT Act empowers American citizens by revoking the immunity from liability that Big Tech currently has under CDA 230.

Under this new legislation, survivors and state attorneys general will be able to sue technology companies for facilitating CSAM using federal civil law as well as state civil and criminal law.

In addition, the EARN IT Act creates a new Online Child Exploitation Prevention Commission. The commission will establish best business practices and make recommendations to inform policy, the judiciary, and the law enforcement community about protecting children in the ever-changing digital environment.

P.A.X.A. PRIORITY:

Closing Gaps with Educator Abuse

The Situation: It’s known that predators seek environments where they can have access to children. As such, in partnership with S.E.S.A.M.E. and educator abuse survivor, Faith Colson, P.A.X.A. seeks to close loopholes to ensure that safe teachers are empowered to protect children from potential predators and establish transparency in due process.

About HB 1975- Faith’s Law (Illinois)

HB1975 includes initiatives aimed at addressing sexual abuse and assault in schools. Schools must develop an employee code of conduct spelling out professional boundaries for staff-student relationships to protect students from sexual misconduct and grooming by staff. Violations of the code of conduct, as well as failures to report violations, would result in disciplinary action.

The bill expands the definition of grooming of a child to include in-person grooming, not just by electronic means as it is currently and expands aggravated criminal sexual assault to cover abuse if the victim is a student and the accused held a position of trust or authority. This protects students who turn 18 while still in school.