New crimes for pushing kids to harm themselves online

What it does

The bill makes it a crime to push minors into self-harm or suicide online. It makes threats to share sexual images of kids a crime. It tells the U.S. Sentencing Commission to raise prison time for child sexual abuse crimes. The bill closes legal gaps that let some online child abuse go unpunished.

Who it affects

The bill protects minors from being pushed to self-harm. It protects them from threats about sexual images. It does not restrict lawful speech or cost ordinary people money.

One thing to notice

The bill defines coercion very broadly. It includes threats, fraud, deceit, force, intimidation, harassment, shame, and manipulation.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• Dec 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Dec 15, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
• Dec 18, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Dec 18, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by Voice Vote”
• Jan 12, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H628)”
• Jan 12, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Ms. Lee (FL) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

5 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 5 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $5,009,111 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 18 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 78% of bills with any report.

Laurel Lee, who sponsored the bill, received $888,500 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Google Client Services LLC — $3,570,000 in 1 report
• Bytedance Inc. — $1,140,000 in 1 report
• Snap Inc. — $240,000 in 1 report
• Internet Works — $45,000 in 1 report
• The Sentencing Project — $14,111 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• coercion — Force or pressure someone to do something against their will through threats or intimidation.
• Sentencing Commission — A group that makes rules for how long prison sentences should be for each crime.
• sexual abuse crimes — Crimes that harm someone sexually, including making or sharing sexual images of minors.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.