Sponsors (16)
The bill strengthens federal tools to deter and punish use of child sexual abuse material for coercion—improving protection and prosecutability for victims—while expanding criminal exposure in ways that raise wrongful‑conviction, civil‑liberties, sentencing fairness, and cost concerns.
Children and other victims: gain stronger protection because threatening to distribute child sexual abuse material is made a federal crime and penalties are increased, deterring extortion and enabling prosecution even when the threat is used as leverage.
Victims of online coercion or extortion: obtain clearer federal remedies and higher maximum sentences for perpetrators, increasing the chance of DOJ prosecution and longer punishments for offenders.
Law enforcement and federal prosecutors: receive clearer statutory authority to pursue and charge conspiracies or attempts based on threatening conduct, which can improve investigations and charging decisions.
Defendants and ordinary people: could face severe federal penalties based on hoaxes, misidentification, or false allegations even when no images exist, increasing the risk of wrongful convictions.
All Americans' civil liberties: broadening criminal exposure for threatening speech may raise free-speech and due-process concerns if statutory language or prosecutorial guidance is vague.
Defendants and the justice system: broader sentencing enhancements risk sweeping in cases with ambiguous intent and producing disproportionate punishments absent clear intent standards.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Makes threatening to distribute CSAM a federal crime even when no images exist, and adds up to 10 years to maximum sentences when images are knowingly used to intimidate, coerce, extort, or cause substantial emotional distress.
Makes it a federal crime to threaten to distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or child pornography even when no such images or videos actually exist, and raises maximum prison terms by 10 years when a visual depiction of a minor is knowingly used to intimidate, coerce, extort, or cause substantial emotional distress. The bill updates several federal criminal statutes to cover threats, attempts, and conspiracies tied to such conduct and clarifies penalties; it also includes a savings clause so other parts remain effective if one part is found unconstitutional. The changes expand prosecutorial reach for online and offline sextortion-style threats, create higher sentencing exposure in specified child‑pornography and related statutes when images are used to harm, and reorganize one statute to distinguish offenses by registered sex offenders.
Introduced December 9, 2025 by Charles Ernest Grassley · Last progress December 9, 2025