H.R. 3921 — STOP CSAM Act of 2025

This section amends victim and witness protections in federal criminal proceedings (18 U.S.C. § 3509) by revising definitions in subsection (a), including (1) expanding the crimes qualifying a "child" as a victim to include kidnapping, including international parental kidnapping; (2) redefining "child abuse" as physical injury or psychological abuse (newly defined as a pattern of degrading acts/threats or trauma via isolation, withholding necessities, restraint, or degrading confinement); (3) revising "exploitation" to mean child pornography (as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8)), child sex trafficking, or an obscene visual depiction of a child (as prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 1466A involving an identifiable minor per § 2256(9)); (4) expanding the multidisciplinary child abuse team to include children's advocacy centers; (5) adding "anus" to lascivious exhibition of the "genitals or pubic area" in "sexually explicit conduct" and removing "or animal"; and (6) adding "covered person" (any age if under 18 at the time of physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation, kidnapping, or as a witness) and "protected information" (e.g., name, address, medical/educational records, or court-designated information). It replaces "videotape"/"videotaped" with "video recording"/"recorded" throughout subsection (b) deposition procedures and "minor" with "child." It further revises subsection (d) privacy orders to cover a covered person's protected information (replacing prior child-specific references), require notice to additional parties (including witnesses) before disclosure, and authorize enforcement of violations as contempt. (Thus, protections now extend to adults who were children at the time of the offense.)

This section amends restitution provisions in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1593(c) (trafficking in persons) and 2248(c) (sexual abuse) to authorize the United States, if determined suitable by the court, to assume victims' rights under those sections. The section further revises § 2259 (mandatory restitution for child pornography victims) to (1) require restitution for offenses under § 1466A involving visual depictions of identifiable minors or chapter 110; (2) specify in subsection (b)(1) restitution requirements if the defendant was convicted of child pornography production; (3) set the minimum restitution in subsection (b)(2)(B) at $3,000 or 10% of the victim's losses if losses are less than $3,000 (from $3,000); and (4) redefine "child pornography production" in subsection (c)(1) and "trafficking in child pornography" in subsection (c)(3) to encompass specified production-related and distribution-related child exploitation offenses, respectively, for purposes of restitution calculations under §§ 2259 and 2259A.

This section revises the duty to report and contents of reports under 18 U.S.C. 2258A(a)–(c) for providers of electronic communications or remote computing services regarding online child sexual exploitation and apparent child pornography to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's (NCMEC) CyberTipline (operated pursuant to 34 U.S.C. 11293(b)(1)(K), which forwards reports to law enforcement). (1) requires reports as soon as reasonably possible after obtaining actual knowledge of relevant facts or circumstances or apparent child pornography, and in any event not later than 60 days thereafter (previously, as soon as reasonably possible with no maximum deadline); (2) specifies reportable facts or circumstances as those indicating an apparent, planned, or imminent violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591 (sex trafficking involving a minor), 2251, 2251A, 2252, 2252A, 2252B, 2260, or 2422(b), plus any apparent child pornography; (3) requires reasonable measures to include user complaint information in reports; and (4) details mandatory report contents (e.g., provider contact information; user, IP, and account identifiers; terms of service; publicly available apparent child pornography or related chats; indicators of whether material is publicly available, provider-viewed, AI-generated or computer-generated, previously reported, or multiply reported; and consented user account material) and discretionary contents (e.g., additional identifiers, timestamps, geolocation, or non-public apparent child pornography).

This section expands civil remedies available to victims under 18 U.S.C. 2255(a)—which currently allows persons victimized as minors by specified federal child sex trafficking and exploitation crimes (e.g., §§2251, 2252, 2422) to sue for personal injury with liquidated damages of $150,000 and no statute of limitations—to additionally cover (1) persons depicted as minors in child pornography who suffer injury from violations of §§2252, 2252A, or 2260(b) regardless of when the violation occurs; (2) identifiable minors depicted in obscene visual depictions who suffer injury from violations of §1466A regardless of when the violation occurs; and (3) persons victimized as minors by an expanded list of violations, including attempts under §1594(a), conspiracies under §§1594(b)-(c), and full §2241 and §2260(a). (Thus, child pornography victims may now sue for later distribution offenses even after reaching adulthood, which current law does not permit.) This section also adds a new §2255A authorizing civil suits against providers of interactive computer services (i.e., online platforms) or app stores for personal injury from their intentional, knowing, or reckless (1) promotion or aiding/abetting of specified child sex trafficking or exploitation crimes involving minors (e.g., §§1591, 2251, 2252, 2422(b)); or (2) hosting, storing, or making available child pornography, with liquidated damages of $300,000 (plus actual damages, attorney fees, punitive damages, and injunctive relief), no statute of limitations, nationwide venue and service of process, and applicability notwithstanding immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. 230); provided, good-faith compliance with legal process is excluded and end-to-end encryption use creates no independent liability.

This section provides a severability clause, stating that if any provision of the Act or its amendments, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and its amendments, and their application to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected.

This section specifies that nothing in the Act or its amendments diminishes rights or remedies for victims of child pornography or child sexual exploitation under (1) other federal laws, including civil claims under 18 U.S.C. §2255 (i.e., suits by minor victims of specified sex crimes for actual or $150,000 liquidated damages, attorney's fees, and punitive damages, with no statute of limitations); or (2) state or tribal laws. It further provides that the Act does not prohibit enforcement of state or tribal laws that are at least as protective of victims' rights.