Urge Congress to Protect Children Online

Protect Children Online and Stop Child Exploitation

Online child exploitation threatens the safety and well-being of our young people and destroys families and communities. In recent years, these abuses have increased exponentially, in large part due to the internet and mobile technology. 

The Catholic Church is sadly familiar with the grave consequences of a culture that fails to give adequate attention to the problem of child sexual abuse and exploitation, and we have a responsibility to act to ensure children and the vulnerable are safe. 

Thankfully, members of both parties in Congress are putting forward various pieces of legislation that would address and help prevent the destructive effects of online child exploitation. Your voice is needed to urge Congress to use their authority to protect children and vulnerable people online.

Join United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in asking your member of Congress to protect children online today!

To learn more, read the USCCB’s letter outlining three moral principles Congress can use to protect children online: 1) respect for life and dignity; 2) the call to family; 3) the call to community and participation. Within their letter, they urge Congress to enact safeguards to ensure that online pornography causes minimum harm and to protect children from exposure and exploitation. They also ask for parents to be empowered to protect their children from the harms of social media. 

The bishops write: "The ability of a child to grow into adulthood in peace and security is both a human right and a demand of the common good: the dignity of the human person requires protections for our young people so that they may flourish as they mature. . . . Legislation should ensure that social media platforms do not permit abuse by predators or undermine the rights of parents to protect their children from harm." 

Act Now

One Minute: Send a message to your members of Congress asking them to stop child exploitation and to protect children online. 

3 Minutes: Read the USCCB letter urging Congress to protect children online.

More Time: Learn about our local efforts to limit the harms of social media by reading or watching MCC testimony from 2023 urging the Minnesota legislature to prohibit the use of social media algorithms on youth.

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