Senator investigates tech giants for CSAM reporting lapses

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is probing eight tech giants, including Meta, Amazon AI Services, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, X.AI, Grindr, and Roblox, over alleged failures to clearly report the exchange of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) data, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) said these tech giants play a crucial role in combating child sexual exploitation and in helping to hold online sex offenders accountable, contributing 81% of CSAM reports. NCMEC claims that the companies do not fully and transparently disclose required information in their reports to the CyberTipline, the U.S. centralized reporting system for suspected online child sexual exploitation. Senator Grassley has asked that they improve transparency and accuracy in processing cyber tip reports submitted to NCMEC, citing findings from recent reviews.

He noted 2025 data showing Meta generated about 11 million reports, many of which were reportedly of limited value. Amazon produced roughly 1.1 million AI-assisted reports, though some lacked key details such as location information, while TikToks 3.6 million reports were often unrelated to child exploitation. In response, Roblox, Discord, Snap, and Grindr said their current safety systems are effective, and they are working on improvements. Other firms mentioned have not yet issued replies.