Hawley launches Google investigation after 'shocking' child trafficking testimony at Senate hearing
FIRST ON FOX — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is launching an investigation into Google after holding a "shocking" hearing on child sex trafficking, Fox News Digital has learned.
"Yesterday, the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which I chair, convened a hearing to investigate gaps in enforcement efforts to stop child sex trafficking," Hawley said in a letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc.
"The testimony was shocking," Hawley wrote in the letter first obtained by Fox News Digital. "Witnesses described an explosion of child sex abuse material (CSAM) online, which surpassed 100 million separate images and videos of suspected abuse in 2023 alone."
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Hawley's hearing Tuesday, "Lost and Exploited: Confronting Child Trafficking and the Failure to Protect America’s Most Vulnerable," was held by the Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism and featured activist and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow and the mother of a victim, among others.
"We also learned at least 89,000 children depicted in these images remain unidentified —suffering without help — in just one single law enforcement database among many," Hawley wrote. "Testimony further established that Google has failed to take robust action to assist survivors."
In the letter, Hawley said he is asking Google for "All internal policies, guidelines, and standard operating procedures currently in effect at Google, YouTube, and any other Alphabet subsidiary relating to the detection, review, removal, and reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse material."
Among other requests, Hawley asked for all communications from victims, their families or legal representation asking Google to remove CSAM from Jan. 1, 2020 to the present, documentation of CyberTipline reports filed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children from 2020 to the present and records of instances in which Google allegedly failed to remove reported CSAM within 48 hours.
In the letter, Hawley quoted Jane Doe, the mother of the child sex trafficking survivor, who said she continues to receive notifications that images of her infant daughter remain online more than 25 years after the abuse.
"I’ve been fighting since day one," Doe said. "That’s all I do. I contact people. … I said, ‘If we were famous, if she was a celebrity, those pictures would be down.’ I said, ‘She’s not famous. She’s famous to me, but evidently not famous enough to the world.'
"I have had a fight with Google about it, saying, ‘For the safety of my child, you have to get these images off … these pictures are out there. … It’s imperative that you get these things off the computer.’ … They told me I have to contact the webmaster."
Hawley also requested documentation detailing Google’s cooperation with federal, state and international law enforcement agencies in investigations involving CSAM being distributed on its platforms.
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The letter also seeks findings from any internal review, audit or assessment done by Google since Jan. 1, 2020, measuring the effectiveness of its CSAM detection and removal processes.
Hawley told Fox News Digital he is launching an investigation "to get answers on why Big Tech companies are allowing child porn to proliferate on their platforms."
"These victims are real people, and they deserve justice. Congress needs to pass my legislation that would allow victims and their families to sue Big Tech. Our children are more important than profit," Hawley added.