Grassley Releases New and Disturbing Information on Online Child Exploitation, Presses Tech Giants for Answers

BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA– U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is opening a congressional inquiry into eight major tech companies for allegedly failing to sufficiently report online child sexual exploitation, frustrating law enforcement investigations into online child abuse. Additionally, Grassley is releasing new information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) – provided to Congress in response to Grassley’s oversight – which details the eight companies’ reporting deficiencies, a list of “poor reporting” companies and data related to generative AI.
Meta, Amazon AI Services, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, X.AI, Grindr and Robloxin 2025 submittedover 17 million reports of suspected online child exploitation. According to NCMEC, these eight companies collectively accounted for 81% of the reports received through NCMEC’sCyberTiplinein 2025. All electronic service providers (ESPs) are required by law to report suspected cases of online child sexual exploitation to NCMEC’s CyberTipline.
NCMEC found significant issues with the companies’ reporting processes in 2025, with some companies failing to provide essential location data on users and suspects, failing to disclose child sex abuse material (CSAM) in AI training data and failing to report instances of sadistic online exploitation targeting children, among others. However, NCMEC indicated that Meta and X.AI had improved their reporting in 2025.
“For almost thirty years, NCMEC has worked tirelessly to combat online child sexual exploitation by attempting to persuade ESPs to detect, report and remove child sexual exploitation on their platforms and improve the quality and substance of their CyberTipline reports. Many ESPs regularly tout the number of reports they submit to the CyberTipline, but fail to disclose that millions of reports lack basic information… This leaves children unprotected online, subjects survivors to revictimization, enables sexual offenders to remain freely online and wastes valuable and limited law enforcement resources,”NCMEC wrote to Grassley.
Grassley is demanding Meta, Amazon AI Services, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, X.AI, Grindr and Roblox respond to NCMEC’s letter and describe how they’re working to improve their reporting process in 2026.
“On March 16, 2026, NCMEC responded to my [oversight] letter and provided my office with new information regarding online child exploitation. I’m alarmed by what I’ve read. Based on information provided to my office, I am concerned that some companies have not provided NCMEC and law enforcement with sufficient data needed to protect kids and prosecute suspected predators,”Grassley wrote.
In addition to his oversight of ESP reporting, Grassley is leading the bipartisanJames T. Woods Actwith Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to address concerningdevelopments in online child exploitationby targeting lax federal sentencing laws, violent online criminal networks and sextortion. Grassley’s bill hasgarnered widespread supportand wasadvancedthrough the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in February.
Read Grassley’s letters toMeta,Amazon AI Services,TikTok,Snapchat,Discord,X.AI,GrindrandRoblox.
Read NCMEC’s full response to GrassleyHERE. A summary of the NCMEC data is below:
Meta
Meta submitted nearly11 million reports involving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
Meta’s most significant reporting issues included:
NCMEC has informed Grassley’s office that Meta’s reporting “has improved, but there are additional improvements that can be made.”
Amazon AI Services
Amazon AI Services submittedover 1.1 million reports involving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
Amazon AI Services’ most significant reporting issues included:
TikTok
TikTok submittedover 3.6 million reportsinvolving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
TikTok’s most significant reporting issues included:
Snapchat
Snapchat submittedover 752,000 reports involving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
Snapchat’s most significant reporting issues included:
Discord
Discord submittednearly 490,000 reports involving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
Discord’s most significant reporting issues included:
X.AI
X.AI submittedover 135,000 reportsinvolving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
X.AI’s most significant reporting issues included:
NCMEC has informed Grassley’s office that X.AI’s reporting “has improved, but there are additional improvements that can be made.”
Grindr
Grindr submittedover 111,000 reportsinvolving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
Grindr’s most significant reporting issues included:
Roblox
Roblox submittedover 65,000 reports involving suspected online child exploitationto NCMEC’s CyberTipline in 2025.
Roblox’s most significant reporting issues included:
2025 Poor Reporting Companies
NCMEC published the below list of “poor reporter” companies, which submit more than 100 CyberTipline reports, with 50% or more containing no location information for a suspect or child victim:
Generative AI Reports
In 2025, NCMEC received 1.5 million CyberTipline reports that had a nexus to generative AI and child sexual exploitation, including:
-30-