Obligation to Report CSAM
Whether a service scans for contraband material or not, any service operating in the United States is required to report suspected CSAM to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). 18 U.S.C. § 2258A provides that, “in order to reduce the proliferation of online child sexual exploitation and to prevent the online sexual exploitation of children,” any “electronic communication service provider or remote computing service” must report suspected CSAM. Federal law further describes the contents of the required report – called a Cybertip – and designates NCMEC, a private non-profit, as the clearinghouse. NCMEC was established in 1984 and has been reauthorized periodically by Congress.
NCMEC reported that only 236 of the 1,500 ESPs registered with the Cybertipline filed Cybertips in 2022. Five companies accounted for more than 93% of all reported Cybertips.