Congress can spare teenagers from sextortion by passing the TAKE IT DOWN Act

On July 27, 2022, my 17-year-old son Gavin took his own life due to sextortion. I had never heard of the crime previously. I had numerous parental controls on his phone, and yet a predator was able to reach my son while he was in his bedroom and attack him. Posing as a young woman online, criminals asked him for explicit pictures, then demanded money in exchange for not publicizing them. As a father, I believe it is my job to protect our kids. Since Gavin took his life, I have been focused on continuing to use my voice to advocate, help victims, fight child online sexual abuse, and focus on teen mental health. Our children’s safety is an issue that transcends party lines.  When I was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, shortly after Gavin’s death, I made it my mission to end sextortion in my state. After the people of South Carolina came together to overwhelmingly pass Gavin’s Law, which prosecutes those behind sextortion, I decided to turn my attention to the federal level.  Recently, elected representatives on both sides of the aisle rightly chose to put aside politics and come together to create a national standard to protect victims nationwide. The TAKE IT DOWN Act, a landmark bipartisan bill led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Reps. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), would make do two things: criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated (often referred to…Congress can spare teenagers from sextortion by passing the TAKE IT DOWN Act