How You Can Respond to the Alarming Senate Hearing Testimony on Online Sexual Exploitation of Children
March 10, 2026
On March 3, a hearing about the escalating crisis of online sexual exploitation of children occurred before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism. The testimony presented has led to two directly-related action steps that we urge you to support (details are provided below).
Among those who testified was Tim Tebow, who described “Operation Renewed Hope,” the world’s largest victim identification operation. He reported that databases in the United Kingdom and Canada alone contained over 95 million files waiting for assessment, and that in just six months more than 338,000 unique IP addresses in the United States had been identified as used to trade child sexual abuse images across peer-to-peer networks. Also testifying was an anonymous survivor of child sexual exploitation, who described how she had received thousands of notifications that images of her child abuse continue to be found in the possession of arrested pedophiles 20 years later. Staca Shehan of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported that in 2025 alone, they had received more than 21.3 million reports that included more than 61.8 million images, videos, and other content relating to child sexual exploitation.
In response to such testimony and the vast trove of additional evidence that has accumulated about the immense trafficking in children for commercial sexual abuse and the production of child sexual abuse materials, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri sent a letter on March 4 to Alphabet Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai, informing his company that the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism is opening an investigation into the role that Big Tech platforms like Google play in facilitating the crisis of child trafficking and online exploitation. We urge you to contact Senator Hawley’s office and voice your support for his investigation.
In addition, we hope you will offer support for the bipartisan Renewed Hope Act of 2026, which would establish and equip a dedicated workforce of analysts, investigators and forensic specialists focused on identifying unknown children seen in sexual abuse images (often called “child pornography” in state and federal laws, and in media reports) so they can be located and safeguarded, and their perpetrators brought to justice. The Act is sponsored by Florida Representatives Laurel M. Lee and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. By clicking on their names, you may contact them to convey your support.
For those of you living in states outside of Florida, you can contact members of your state’s Congressional delegation and urge them to support (and, ideally, to co-sponsor) the Renewed Hope Act.