Untitled Document

[00:00:00] from Missouri. [00:00:01] >> I want to thank Senator Durban for his [00:00:02] incredible leadership on this issue. [00:00:04] It's truly a privilege to partner with [00:00:06] him on this effort. And I just want to [00:00:08] say, Mr. President, that the premise of [00:00:10] this bill is very simple. It is simply [00:00:12] this, that our children are not safe [00:00:14] online. And I know that because the [00:00:17] statistics tell the story. Just looking [00:00:20] at the number of reports of child sex [00:00:22] abuse material online the last year for [00:00:25] which we have full data. The number of [00:00:27] images sexually abusive images reported [00:00:30] online surged to 104 [00:00:33] million. Think about that. 104 million [00:00:38] reported sexually abusive images. That [00:00:42] is up from nearly 450,000 as early as [00:00:44] 2004. In the space of 20 years, we have [00:00:48] seen an explosion of sexual abuse [00:00:51] material online. The data does not lie. [00:00:54] Our children are not safe. But I also [00:00:56] know it because whistleblowers tell us, [00:00:59] the experts from these companies tell us [00:01:01] the truth. I'll never forget sitting in [00:01:03] the Senate Judiciary Committee and [00:01:05] listening to whistleblowers from Meta [00:01:07] talk about the steps their company had [00:01:09] taken to target their products towards [00:01:12] children. And I asked one of these [00:01:14] whistleblowers, "How many kids who come [00:01:16] to your platform would you estimate are [00:01:18] exposed to child sex abuse material?" [00:01:22] She thought for a moment and then she [00:01:24] said, "I would say 100%." I I said, [00:01:27] "Wait a minute, 100% 100%." She said [00:01:32] every child who gets on a Meta platform [00:01:36] whether it's virtual reality whether it [00:01:38] is Instagram whether it is Facebook [00:01:40] itself every child who is on that [00:01:42] platform for any length of time will be [00:01:46] exposed to child sex abuse material. [00:01:49] Every single child the tech companies [00:01:53] themselves tell us. But I also know our [00:01:56] kids aren't safe online because I'm a [00:01:58] father of three children. My oldest is [00:02:01] 13 now. I've got a 10-year-old and a [00:02:03] 5-year-old and my kids don't have [00:02:06] devices and they don't have phones. And [00:02:08] I'm going to keep it that way as long as [00:02:09] I possibly can. But I tell you what, my [00:02:11] wife and I every day worry about what [00:02:14] our children will be exposed to online. [00:02:17] and I have listened to parent after [00:02:19] parent come before this body take an [00:02:22] oath and testify about the orals their [00:02:24] own children have been through. Another [00:02:27] employee at Meta testified about his own [00:02:29] child, a daughter who signed up for an [00:02:32] Instagram account and almost immediately [00:02:34] was bombarded by predators [00:02:37] and sex abusers [00:02:40] looking at her images, direct messaging [00:02:42] her, soliciting her for various sexual [00:02:45] acts. It caused him to ask himself, [00:02:47] "What are we doing at these tech [00:02:49] companies? Is there no amount of of [00:02:52] decency? Is there is there no respect [00:02:54] for the basic privacy and security of [00:02:56] children? Our children are not safe [00:03:00] online." [00:03:01] And Mr. President, I also want to say [00:03:03] that this bill is based on another [00:03:04] important principle, a simple one, which [00:03:06] is that no amount of corporate profits [00:03:09] justifies the exploitation of our [00:03:11] children. All the big tech companies are [00:03:14] rich beyond belief. They are the [00:03:16] wealthiest companies, the richest, [00:03:19] biggest companies, not just in America, [00:03:21] not just in the world, but in the [00:03:23] history of the world. But I just want to [00:03:25] say that no amount of money justifies [00:03:28] subjecting our children to sexual abuse. [00:03:31] No amount of money justifies extortion [00:03:34] of children on these platforms. I don't [00:03:37] care what Facebook's market cap is today [00:03:39] or tomorrow. I don't care how much money [00:03:41] Google makes next quarter. It does not [00:03:43] justify the degradation of American [00:03:46] children. Not now, not ever. And this [00:03:49] body has a moral obligation to stand for [00:03:52] that principle and to vindicate it for [00:03:54] every parent and every child in America. [00:03:56] It is why we are here. It is our [00:03:59] obligation and our responsibility. And [00:04:01] that's what this bill does. This is a [00:04:04] very simple bill as Senator Durban [00:04:06] described. It simply allows the victims [00:04:10] of sex abuse material or their parents [00:04:13] to get into court and to make their case [00:04:15] against these companies. And it is not [00:04:18] unfair to the companies. The companies [00:04:20] are held to a very simple standard. Did [00:04:22] they knowingly or recklessly host this [00:04:25] content? Now, let me just say this. We [00:04:27] all know that these companies will [00:04:30] deploy algorithms to the end of the [00:04:32] earth in order to target our kids, in [00:04:35] order to advertise to our kids. They [00:04:37] know every detail, every cintillaa of [00:04:39] action that occurs on their platforms. [00:04:41] They know about it because they're [00:04:43] making money off of it. And yet, when we [00:04:45] bring them before this body and put them [00:04:48] under oath, the executives of these [00:04:49] companies say, "Oh, we couldn't possibly [00:04:52] get rid of all the CSAM, all the sex [00:04:54] abuse material. We just don't have the [00:04:56] technology for it." Oh, yes, they do. [00:04:58] They do. But they don't want to root out [00:05:01] the CSAM because they are making money [00:05:03] on it. Because sex material online [00:05:06] drives engagement online, which drives [00:05:08] more eyeballs online, which drives [00:05:10] advertising dollars online, and that's [00:05:12] what they care most about. Mr. [00:05:14] President, it's time to give victims and [00:05:17] parents the right that every other [00:05:19] American has, which is to get into court [00:05:22] and to have their day in court and to [00:05:25] protect their children. This bill [00:05:27] doesn't touch encryption. It doesn't [00:05:29] vindic it doesn't destroy privacy [00:05:31] rights. It protects all of those things, [00:05:34] but above all, it protects children. It [00:05:36] protects our children online, and it is [00:05:38] long overdue. I'll just finish with [00:05:40] this. I wish I could persuade my [00:05:43] colleague, who I think will soon object, [00:05:44] to agree with us on this, but I I [00:05:47] certainly respect his view. The scandal [00:05:49] is not that one or two or 10 or 20 [00:05:51] senators would take a different point of [00:05:53] view. That's fine. The real scandal here [00:05:55] is this bill cannot get a vote on the [00:05:58] floor of this Senate. It passed [00:06:01] unanimously, not once but twice, out of [00:06:04] committee. Unanimously [00:06:06] out of the Judiciary Committee of the [00:06:08] United States. And now for years in a [00:06:10] row, it can't get so much as a vote on [00:06:14] the floor of the Senate. That's why [00:06:15] Senator Durban is here today. That's why [00:06:17] I'm here today. That is a scandal, Mr. [00:06:20] President. It is absolutely [00:06:21] indefensible. [00:06:23] I haven't heard a word of explanation, [00:06:25] but I know the reason. The reason is the [00:06:27] big tech companies are opposed to it. [00:06:29] And the reason for that is the big tech [00:06:30] companies would lose money and they will [00:06:32] spend no amount of money. There'll be no [00:06:35] limit to what they will spend to stop [00:06:37] legislation they don't want from moving [00:06:38] on this floor. It's time this body [00:06:40] demonstrated its independence. It's time [00:06:42] this body demonstrated our loyalty to [00:06:44] the people who put us here, not the [00:06:46] loyalty to the corporations who write [00:06:48] the checks and call the shots and run [00:06:50] the TV ads and make their threats in [00:06:52] their campaign contributions. That's [00:06:54] enough of that. It doesn't say we the [00:06:56] corporations in our constitution. It [00:06:58] says we the people. And it's time for [00:07:00] the people to have their say. It's time [00:07:02] for this body to vindicate their rights. [00:07:04] It's time for us to vote on this bill. [00:07:07] With that, I yield the force.